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The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species

Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2015.

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Other Authors: Millar, Robert Peter
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: 2026
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access_status_str Open Access
author2 Millar, Robert Peter
author_browse Millar, Robert Peter
author_facet Millar, Robert Peter
collection Thesis
description Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2015.
format Thesis
id oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110050
institution University of Pretoria (South Africa)
language English
last_indexed 2026-06-10T12:36:53.925Z
license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
publishDate 2026
publishDateRange 2026
publishDateSort 2026
record_format dspace
source_str UPSpace — University of Pretoria Institutional Repository
spelling oai:repository.up.ac.za:2263/110050 The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species Millar, Robert Peter ashleigh.donaldson@zoology.up.ac.za Donaldson, Ashleigh Claire Whole blood Plasma Dissertation (MSc (Zoology))--University of Pretoria, 2015. In wildlife species, relatively little is known about interspecific variation of innate immune response to infection with pathogens. In order to optimize methods, a pilot study to test the ability of 20_l of whole blood and 10_l of plasma to inhibit Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bovine BCG was conducted. Following this, the capability of whole blood and plasma from ten species of South African vertebrates to inhibit the growth of Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Bovine BCG bacteria was tested at concentrations of 5_l, 10_l, 20_l, 50_l, 100_l and 200_l. Inhibition ability varied significantly between species, with the scavenging species spotted hyena, Nile crocodile and palm nut vulture exhibiting the lowest minimum inhibitory volume of blood and the highest overall inhibition activity. EC50 values for scavenging species was significantly lower than that of herbivorous species. In all species, E. coli and Bovine BCG bacteria were inhibited with a complement mediated response and were inhibited by both whole blood and plasma. S. aureus induced a cell-mediated response and was inhibited by whole blood but not by plasma. The sex and age of an individual, as well as the season in which the samples was collected did not significantly affect the results. We further studied the leukocyte proliferation of ten species of vertebrates in response to E. coli, S. aureus and Bovine BCG bacteria. The results show that scavengers have higher overall numbers of circulating leukocytes than did carnivores and herbivores. After addition of bacterial species to whole blood, statistically significant post-hoc comparisons of leukocyte numbers were found in species known to supplement their diet with carrion. Zoology and Entomology MSc (Zoology) 2026-05-15T17:26:10Z 2026-05-15T17:26:10Z 15/10/11 2015 Dissertation http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110050 en application/pdf
spellingShingle Whole blood
Plasma
The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species
title The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species
title_full The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species
title_fullStr The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species
title_full_unstemmed The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species
title_short The mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in South African species
title_sort mycobactericidal properties of whole blood and plasma in south african species
topic Whole blood
Plasma
url http://hdl.handle.net/2263/110050