A comparison of via of administration of the injection of vitamin E in newly received feedlot calves

Fifty Holstein steers calves (121 ± 4 kg) were used in order to determine the effects of route of administration of vitamin E at the time of arrival of feedlot cattle on levels of plasma alphatocopherol concentrations during the initial 16 days following their arrival into the feedlot. Ten steers served as controls, the remaining 40 steers (20 steers/treatment) were injected either Plascencia-Jorquera, Alejandro et al. Revista Electrónica Nova Scientia, No 15 Vol. 7 (3), 2015. ISSN 2007 0705. pp: 11 18 13 intramuscular (IM) or subcutaneous (SQ) with 1500 IU of vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol). Vitamin E treatments were administered on days 1 and 8 of the arrival, while blood samples were obtained on days 1, 4, 8, 12 and 16. Injection sites were examined visually on day 16 to determine if route of administration affected incidence of injection-site inflammation. Steers were fed a steam-flaked corn based receiving diet with a 72:28 concentrate-to-forage ratio. Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations of control steers remained low (range from 0.06 to 0.10 mg/dL) throughout the 16-d period. Vitamin E injection increased (P<0.01) 4-fold the plasma alphatocopherol concentration. Route of vitamin E administration did not influence (P > 0.10) the incidence of injection site inflammation, averaging 17.5% (χ2, P>0.05). Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations were not affected (P > 0.30) by the presence of injection site inflammation. Since the risk of lesions in meat are considerably higher with intramuscular application and plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations were not different between routes of application, it is concluded that subcutaneous administration is a practical alternative to the traditional intramuscular of administration of injectable vitamin E for feedlot cattle.


intramuscular (IM) or subcutaneous (SQ) with 1500 IU of vitamin E (d-alpha tocopherol).
Vitamin E treatments were administered on days 1 and 8 of the arrival, while blood samples were obtained on days 1, 4, 8, 12 and 16.Injection sites were examined visually on day 16 to determine if route of administration affected incidence of injection-site inflammation.Steers were fed a steam-flaked corn based receiving diet with a 72:28 concentrate-to-forage ratio.Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations of control steers remained low (range from 0.06 to 0.10 mg/dL) throughout the 16-d period.Vitamin E injection increased (P<0.01)4-fold the plasma alphatocopherol concentration.Route of vitamin E administration did not influence (P > 0.10) the incidence of injection site inflammation, averaging 17.5% (χ 2 , P>0.05).Plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations were not affected (P > 0.30) by the presence of injection site inflammation.Since the risk of lesions in meat are considerably higher with intramuscular application and plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations were not different between routes of application, it is concluded that subcutaneous administration is a practical alternative to the traditional intramuscular of administration of injectable vitamin E for feedlot cattle.

Introduction
Because calves entering the feedlot are often vitamin E deficient (Mass et al., 2008), administration of vitamin E during receiving is recommended (Secrist et al., 1997).Previous work (Hidiroglou and Batra, 1996;McDowell et al., 1996) demonstrates that plasma tocopherol concentrations are affected by dosage level, frequency of administration, and chemical form of vitamin E and its carrier.Traditionally, vitamin E is administered via intramuscular (IM) injection.It has been maintained that, compared to IM administration, the subcutaneous (SQ) administration of vitamin E result in lower rate of uptake to appreciably increase plasma and tissue alpha-tocopherol concentrations (Judson et al., 1991).However, direct comparisons between IM and SQ routes of administration have not been conducted.Thus, there is no conclusive experimental basis for this recommendation.With increased interest in reduction of injection-site blemishes resulting by IM injections in feedlot industry (Roeber et al., 2001), it is preferable that, where feasible, injection treatments be applied SQ.
The objective of this trial was to compare IM vs SQ routes of vitamin E administration on plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations and incidence of injection site inflammation in the first 56 days of the arrival of newly received calves.

Materials and Methodology
All animals care, handling, and surgical techniques followed protocols that have been approved by the University of California, Davis, Animal Use and Care Committee.
Fifty Holstein steer calves (121 ± 4 kg) were used to evaluate the influence of SQ versus IM injection of vitamin E on plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations and incidence of injection site inflammation during the initial 16 days following their arrival into the feedlot.Calves were purchased as steers (previously castrated via elastration).Upon arrival, steers were vaccinated for bovine rhinotracheitis parainfluenza3 (TSV-2, Zoetis, Florham Park, NJ), Clostridials (Fortress 8, Zoetis, Florham Park, NJ), and Pasteurella haemolytica (One Shot, Zoetis, Florham Park, NJ), were treated for parasites (Dectomax Injectable, Zoetis, Florham Park, NJ), and randomly assigned to three treatment groups.Steers were group-fed a steam-flaked corn-based receiving diet with an expected concentration of 22 mg/kg vitamin E (NRC, 1996).The formulation of receiving diet is shown in Table 1.Ten steers served as controls, receiving no vitamin E injections.The remaining 40 steers (20 steers/treatment) were injected either IM or SQ with 1500 IU of d-alpha tocopherol (5 mL of Vital E-A+D3, Stuart Products Inc., Bedford, TX).Site of injection was located in front of the shoulder and midway of the neck in the "injection triangle" below the nuchal ligament and above the jugular furrow.Vitamin E treatments were administered on days 1 and 8. Blood samples were obtained from all steers (controls and treated with vitamin E) on days 1 (before administration of vitamin E treatments), 4, 8, 12 and 16.Blood samples were collected via jugular puncture into heparinized tubes.Immediately, blood was centrifuges at 1070×g for 10 min.Plasma alphatocopherol analyses was conducted by the Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory (College of Veterinary Medicine, Iowa State University, Ames, IA) according to procedures described by Stahr (1991).On the final day of the study (day 16), incidence of injection site inflammation was recorded based on presence of absence of visible swelling.The trial was analyzed as a completely randomized design.Data were analyzed by repeated-measures analysis of variance using the MIXED procedure of SAS version 9.1 (Cary, NC.USA).The means were compared by the Tukey test at 5% of probability.Treatment effects on proportion of steers with injection-site inflammation was analyzed using the Mantel-Haenszel chi-square analysis.Differences were considered significant when the P-value was ≤ 0.05.
Since the risk of lesions in meat are considerably higher with intramuscular application (Li et al., 2012) and plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations were not different between routes of application, it is concluded that subcutaneous administration is a practical alternative to the traditional intramuscular of administration of injectable vitamin E for feedlot cattle.
Plascencia-Jorquera, Alejandro et al.Revista Electrónica Nova Scientia, Nº 15 Vol.7 (3), 2015.ISSN 2007 -0705.pp: 11 -18 -17 -alpha-tocopherol between IM and SQ suggest that the rates of uptake or mobilization are similar.This contrasts with Judson et al. (1991) who did not observed a significant increased plasma tocopherol following SQ administration during the first four days following administration of 120 mg/kg of dl-alpha tocopheryl acetate to sheep.

Table 1 .
Ingredients and composition of receiving diet.

Table 2
Influence of subcutaneous versus intramuscular administration of vitamin E on plasma alpha-tocopherol concentrations (mg/dL) in newly arrival feedlot calves.