Abstract
This study was designed to investigate the effect of administration of combination of vitamin C + E and vitamin C alone on erythrocyte osmotic fragility (EOF), serum malondialdehde (MDA) and surface sialic acid (SSA) concentration in road transported rams. Twenty one (21) rams were used for the study. On the day of transportation, 7 rams (Group 1) were orally and individually administered with vitamin C (Juhel® Nigeria Ltd.) at the dose of 250 mg/kg dissolved in 10 ml of water and also vitamin E (100 mg DL-α-tocopherol) (Patterson Zoochonist Ltd. Nigeria) at the dose of 75 mg/kg, per os while another 7 rams (Group 2) was administered orally and individually with vitamin C (250 mg/kg) only. The 3rd group (7 rams) was the control, and they were administered orally and individually with only 10 ml of sterile water. The results indicated that the percentage haemolysis after 8 hours (end of the journey) increased in the entire treatment group which was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the control group. On day 3 post-transportation, the obtained value was significantly (P < 0.05) lower in the antioxidant treated group. The obtained MDA value of 2.13 ± 0.51 µmol in the first hour of the journey and 2.43 ± 0.22 µmol in the 8th hour was significantly (P < 0.05) higher in the group 3 (control) than the values obtained in the treated groups. The values rose slightly in all groups 3-days post-transportation above pre-transportation value which was not significantly (P > 0.05) different. There was progressive decline in the mean SSA concentrations in the control group with a value of 6.00 ± mg/ml at the end of the journey (8 h) which was not significantly (P > 0.05) different but had higher decrease of 17.43 % as against 4.52 % and 5.56 % in group 1 and 2 respectively. In conclusion the findings in this study have provided an insight into the role of erythrocyte SSA and ROS in explaining haemolysis associated with road transported ram and the possible ameliorative roles of Vitamins C and E on haemolysis

Key words: Erythrocyte osmotic fragility, Erythrocyte surface sialic acid, Serum malondialdehyde, Transportation stress, Vitamin C and E, Rams