2.7. Statistical analysis
All experimental assays related to blood and tissue samples were performed in triplicate and mean ± S.E. was calculated. The ratio of immune-related gene/β-actin product was subsequently calculated after subtraction of the background pixel intensity for each gene of interest and mean value (±S.E.) was calculated from three samples. Data were analysed using one way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and difference among treatments was compared using Duncan's multiple range (DMR) test [21]. Significance level was considered at P < 0.05.