PHARMACOLOGICAL EVALUATION OF FL‐6, A NEW IMMUNOMODULATORY DRUG, ON COCCIDIOSIS IN CHICKENS

The aim of this work was to evaluate the effect of pretreatment with FL‐6, a new imunomodulatory drug, on coccidiosis in chickens. Broiler chickens were used with a day of born. Animals were maintained under controlled conditions and without any treatment. We included five groups (30 animals per group): group 1 was control (vehicle); group 2, was infected with Eimeria maxima (EM) on day 8 and maintained separately; group 3 was treated with FL‐6 control, group 4 was pretreated with vehicle, and group 5 was pretreated with FL‐6 and infected with EM. The groups 1, 3 to 5 were pretreated with vehicle or FL‐6 at 10th and 17th days. On day 24th the group 4 and 5 were mixed with group 2 (EM) in order to acquire natural infection, for a week. Chickens were weighed every week and underwent necropsy. Chickens with FL‐6 pretreatment, showed a gains on corporal weight, this effect was higher than the control group, without infection. The guts of the animals from group pretreated with FL‐6 showed less severe injuries as compared with other groups. Our results might suggest that the pre‐treatment with FL‐6 probably increased the nonspecific immune response, thereby minimizing the effects caused by EM.