Experimental Chrozophora plicata poisoning in goats and sheep.

The clinical, biochemical and pathological effects of the fresh shoots of Chrozophora plicata on Nubian goats and Desert sheep were investigated. The animals were given single or repeated daily doses of 10, 5, 1 and 0.5 g/kg of chrozophora shoots by stomach tube and died at various times post dosing. The main signs of Chrozophora poisoning in both species of ruminants were salivation, dyspnea, bloat, inappetence, dullness, diarrhea, paresis of the hind limbs, recumbency and lateral deviation of the head and neck. The main lesions were hemorrhage in the lungs, heart and kidneys, pulmonary cyanosis and edema, hepatic fatty change and depletion of glycogen, catarrhal enteritis, ascites, hydropericardium and serous atrophy of the cardiac fat and renal pelvis. An increase in the concentration of urea, ammonia and bilirubin and in the activity of GOT and a decrease in total protein were detected in the serum. Hematological changes indicated the development of anemia.