Effect of Long Acting Oxytetracycline Formulation on Immune Status Based on Organ to Body Weight Ratio in Rats

The role of immune system is to sustain host defense mechanisms and maintain homeostasis. The immune system maintains a constant surveillance against invading pathogenic microorganisms, Immunomodulation may involve either an increase in the magnitude of immune response i.e. immunostimulation or a decrease in the magnitude of the immune response i.e. immunosuppression. Long acting oxytetracycline broad spectrum antibiotic with bacteriostatic activity widely used in veterinary medicine for the treatment of respiratory and gastrointestinal infectious diseases. This study depicts the effect of long acting oxytetracycline on immune response with reference to the organ to body weight ratios in respect of spleen and lymph node. There was no significant (P>0.05) difference in the organ body weight ratio of spleen and lymphnode in long acting oxytetracycline treated groups and antigen plus long acting oxytetracycline groups in nonantigen and antigen stimulated groups when compared with their respective control groups respectively. The present study indicated that single dose of long acting oxytetracycline formulation did not affect the organ body weight ratio of spleen and lymphnode in rats, concluding that the formulation had no effect on the immune status in rats.