Background: The objective of this study was to determine the effect of ketoprofen on acute phase protein (APPs) concentrations in goats undergoing castration. A total of 16 clinically healthy, male and 12 months old goats were enrolled and each case received ketoprofen (group I) or control (group II) in a randomized fashion. Goats were sedated with Xylazine-HCl, afterwards ketoprofen (3 mg/kg) was injected via jugular vein in group I, whereas physiological saline solution was administered to group II. Goats were castrated by the Burdizzo method. Hematological parameters were determined with a blood cell counter and plasma fibrinogen (Fb), serum haptoglobin (Hp), serum amyloid A (SAA) and ceruloplasmin (Cp) concentrations were measured Millars technique, ELISA kit or p-phenylenediamine oxidase activity prior to castration and throughout the study on 0 to 96 h.
Results: There were no differences in pre-treatment serum Cp, SAA and Fb concentrations among the groups. Contrarily, there were significant differences in plasma Hp concentrations on 0 to 96 h onwards post-castration. There were no differences in WBC and PCV between groups. Cp, Fb, and SAA were almost constant or showed slight changes at various stages of the study with no significant differences between groups.
Conclusions: The results revealed that, levels of Cp, Fb and SAA may not be affected by castration such as the confounding parameters similarly to stress. More investigations possessing different surgical or non-surgical castration techniques with larger number of goats and focusing on specific markers for stress are suggested for precise analysis.
Keywords: Acute Phase Protein; Castration; Goat; Ketoprofen.