Table 3.

Effect of melittin on serum immune indices and immune organ index in heat-stressed quails.

				W × WH		WH × WHA2
Item	W	WH	WHA2	SEM	P value	SEM	P value
Serum immune indices
Complement C3 (μg/mL)	1095.75	1030.03	1247.72	42.06	0.1692	96.88	0.0657
IFN-γ (pg/mL)	113.88	114.92	131.04	2.18	0.6505	4.75	0.0146
IgG (mg/mL)	487.56	372.01	467.37	38.54	0.0241	28.64	0.0158
IgA (μg/mL)	432.85	346.06	443.00	30.24	0.0284	33.66	0.0281
Immune organ index1
Thymus	3.16	2.43	2.76	0.34	0.0765	0.31	0.3170
Bursa of Fabricius	1.73	1.14	1.70	0.11	0.0019	0.08	0.0005
Spleen	0.84	0.69	0.82	0.08	0.1185	0.08	0.1844

The mean and standard error of the mean are used to express data.

P < 0.05 indicates a significant difference between the 2 groups.

¹The unit of immune organ index is mg/g body weight.

W, control group; WH, heat stress group; WHA2, heat stress + melittin group.