Abstract
Beta-glucan is one of the major cell wall components of yeast, fungi, seaweed and cereals. beta-glucan is one of the natural products which are useful in treating and /or preventing various diseases. In this work, we used glucan to study its effect against Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) infection by giving it through two routs, parenteral and oral. Parenteral injection was done through intraperitoneal injection (IP) in rats in dose 0.2 ml/rat at 7 and 14 days prior to IP challenge with S. aureus (1x108 CFU/ml). Two weeks post beta-glucan administration and one-week post challenge with S. aureus, slight non-significant changes in RBCs count in all groups were recorded. While MCV and MCH showed significant increase in IP group before and post challenge if compared with control group. MCHC showed slight significant increase in oral and IP groups post challenge than control group. Also, there was a significant increase in white blood cells, lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophil and esinophiles in both oral and IP groups than control group either before or after challenge with S. aureus. Prebioticbic beta-glucan showed no harmful effect on liver and kidney functions. The present data demonstrated that administration of beta-glucan per os (P.O.) followed by IP injection as a treatment regimen was significant effective in enhancement of staphylococcal infection clearance in rats. Histopathology of the lungs of infected rats revealed severe bronchiolitis and peribronchiolitis while groups treated with beta-glucan showed less deterioration.