Abstract
Three goats were dosed orally with a 0.2 % aqueous copper sulphate solution. The dosing was 20 mg copper sulphate/kg body weight twice a day for 56 to 113 days. One of the goats accumulated substantial amounts of copper in the liver and developed two haemolytic crises. The two other goats showed only increased liver copper concentrations before they were killed. The results indicate that the goats were susceptible in varying degrees to repeated oral copper dosing, and that two of the goats were significantly less susceptible to copper than sheep. The goat that turned into a haemolytic crisis showed changes similar to those seen in sheep as far as blood and plasma parameters are concerned. The gross and histological lesions were also mainly of the same type as described in sheep. The hepatic lesions found in the goat differed to some degree from those found in sheep as the necroses were more distinctly located to the centrilobular area, and as the iron pigments were mainly located in phagocytes in the hepatic sinusóides.
Keywords: chronic copper poisoning, goat
Sammendrag
Det ble gitt oralt 20 mg CuSO4/kg kroppsvekt 2 ganger daglig i 56–113 dager til 3 geiter. Én av geitene akkumulerte betydelige mengder kobber i leveren og gjennomgikk to hemolyttiske kriser. De to andre geitene fikk moderat forøfkning av kobberkonsentrasjonen i leveren, men viste ingen kliniske symptomer på kobberforgiftning før de ble avlivet. Resultatene viser at geitene var følsomme overfor gjentatt oral kobberdosering i varierende grad, videre at to av geitene var betydelig mindre følsomme overfor kobber enn sau. Geita som fikk hemolyttisk krise, viste de samme forandringer som er vanlig hos sau når det gjelder blod- og plasmaparametre. Makroskopiske og histologiske forandringer var bovedsakelig av samme type som beskrevet hos sau. Forandringene i leveren hos denne geita skilte seg fra lesjonene hos sau ved at de var mer tydelig lokalisert til centrolobulære områder og ved at jernpigmenter hovedsakelig var lokalisert til fagocytter i leverens sinusoider.
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Acknowledgment
The determination of copper concentrations in plasma, liver and kidney cortex was carried out at The National Veterinary Institute, Oslo, Norway.
Transaminase and bilirubin analyses were performed at the Department of Internal Medicine I, Veterinary College of Norway, Oslo.
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