Abstract
Diagnostic and particularly prognostic biomarkers are essential for control of enzootic ataxia in lambs. Blood samples were collected from 32 lambs suffering from enzootic ataxia, and 15 healthy lambs as the control. Whole blood was used for estimation of hemoglobin (Hb) in diseased and healthy animals. The harvested serum was used for estimation of copper (Cu), ceruloplasmin (Cp), selenium (Se), Malondialdehyde (MDA), reduced glutathione (GSH), superoxide dismutase (SOD), cardiac troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase (CK) and aspartate aminotransferase (AST) levels in diseased and healthy control animals. Clinical examination revealed anemia, a fall in body temperature, an increase in heart and respiratory rates and lack of coordination in diseased animals compared to the controls. The levels of malondialdehyde, cardiac troponin I, creatine kinase and aspartate aminotransferase were significantly higher, whereas those of superoxide dismutase and reduced glutathione were significantly lower in diseased animals compared to the controls. Successfully treated lambs (n = 14) had lower levels of cardiac troponin I, creatine kinase and malondialdehyde, but higher levels of superoxide dismutase, copper and ceruloplasmin compared to lambs with treatment failure. However, creatine kinase, superoxide dismutase and cardiac troponin I showed a high degree of accuracy in predicting treatment outcome (success vs failure). The areas under the curve for creatine kinase, superoxide dismutase and cardiac troponin I were 0.97, 0.94 and 0.92, respectively. Creatine kinase and superoxide dismutase showed nearly the same sensitivity and specificity (sensitivity = 94.44% vs 92.86% and specificity = 92.86% vs 93.75%, respectively), and better than that of cTnI (sensitivity = 88.89% and specificity = 85.71%). The current study suggests that creatine kinase, superoxide dismutase and cardiac troponin I could be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers in lambs affected with enzootic ataxia.