Figure 11.

Life cycle of A. columbae showing that infected pigeon containing adult worms in its intestine which passes embryonated eggs in droppings, then eggs pass in the environment and 1st larva appears in the eggs within 2 wk then larva molts to 2nd stage larvae (infective stage) that may contaminate feed & water as a direct life cycle or may engulfed by earthworm then picked up by pigeon as indirect life cycle after that eggs liberare 2nd larvae in pigeons proventriculus or duodenum then molt to form 3rd stage larvae which molt to form adult in pigeon intestine. Our findings showed that during ascardiasis, genes expression for IL1-β and TNFα increased, and serum Nitric oxide and MDA levels decreased while serum zinc levels decreased. Abbreviation: MDA, malondialdehyde.