Immunity to experimental neosporosis in pregnant sheep

Neospora caninum is an important cause of fetal loss in cattle but has also infrequently been shown to cause disease in sheep and goats. Experimental infection of pregnant sheep with N. caninum causes clinical and pathological changes very similar to those of neosporosis in cattle. An experiment in sheep was undertaken to examine whether infection with N. caninum before pregnancy conferred immunity to subsequent challenge with the parasite during pregnancy. Primary inoculation of NC1 tachyzoites subcutaneously, either before or during pregnancy, caused a significant temperature response in ewes, while those given a secondary challenge at 90 days gestation (dg) did not show such a response. Primary infection of 12 ewes during pregnancy resulted in the loss of all fetuses while a further 12 ewes inoculated with NC1 tachyzoites before mating and subsequently challenged with the same dose at 90 dg produced nine live and seven dead lambs. There were no fetal deaths in ewes only infected with Neospora before mating although there was serological evidence of vertical transmission in four of their clinically normal offspring while Neospora DNA was detected in the cerebrospinal fluid of a fifth healthy lamb. Thus an experimental primary infection with N. caninum during pregnancy killed all the fetuses while inoculation before pregnancy did not cause any mortality but did provide a degree of protection against subsequent challenge with Neospora during pregnancy.     

GoPubMed在药物研发信息挖掘中的应用

采用GoPubMed数据库的在线分析软件进行科技查新,对国内外1983-2012年发表的钩虫抗凝肽研究文献信息进行数据挖掘,获得其研究文献主题、年代、地区分布、期刊、核心作者等相关信息,探索与药物研发密切相关的重组基因产物和药物作用机制.     

PCR诊断牛新孢子虫病的初步应用

目的 以犬新孢子虫Nc-5基因为目的基因的PCR诊断方法,检测奶牛流产的胎牛脑组织的新孢子虫。方法 根据GenBank发布的新孢子虫特异性基因片段Nc-5基因序列,设计1对特异性引物,以犬新孢子虫(Neospora caninum)标准株DNA为模板,PCR扩增Nc-5基因,与pMD18-T载体连接,转化大肠埃希菌JM109,获得阳性重组质粒pMD18-T-Nc-5,并测序。以环形泰勒虫、牛巴贝斯虫、刚地弓形虫、杜氏利什曼原虫以及犬新孢子虫标准株DNA为模板进行扩增以验证PCR的特异性,采用紫外分光光度计测定犬新孢子虫标准株DNA浓度和纯度,取高纯度的DNA样品用灭菌水稀释,分别取不同量的DNA进行PCR扩增,确定PCR方法的敏感性;利用该方法对32份奶牛流产的胎牛脑组织样品进行检测,同时,对其中23份流产的母牛血样进行ELISA血清学检测(作为对照), 以评价犬新孢子虫PCR方法的检测效果。 结果 克隆的犬新孢子虫标准株目的基因大小为350 bp,与GenBank（AY459289）中Nc-5基因序列一致性为98%,建立的犬新孢子虫PCR方法与环形泰勒虫、牛巴贝斯虫、刚地弓形虫和杜氏利什曼原虫均无交叉反应,最低能检测犬新孢子虫DNA 3.125 pg,检测流产胎牛脑组织阳性率为18.8%（6/32）。ELISA检验流产母牛血样抗体阳性率为17.4%（4/23）,这4份阳性样品与其流产胎牛PCR检测结果均为阳性。 结论 建立的犬新孢子虫PCR诊断方法用于检测奶牛流产的胎牛脑组织新孢子虫的感染效果较好。     

The development of immune responses in Balb/c mice following inoculation with attenuated or virulent Neospora caninum tachyzoites

Balb/c mice were inoculated intraperitoneally (i.p.) with either 5 × 10⁶ live virulent (group 1) or 5 × 10⁶ live attenuated (group 2) tachyzoites, or Vero cells (group 3). Animals were killed at 0, 14, 28 and 42 days post-inoculation (p.i.), with the remaining mice receiving a lethal challenge on day 48 p.i. Serum, spleen and brain samples were collected post-mortem to examine humoral and cell-mediated immune responses as well as pathological lesions and to quantify parasite loads. On day 14 p.i. group 2 (attenuated) demonstrated statistically significant ( P  < 0·001) lower levels of mean morbidity and weight loss, while also showing significantly ( P  = 0·01) higher levels of splenocyte proliferation and IFN-γ production ( P  = 0·003), compared to group 1 (virulent). Histology of brain samples showed milder lesions and a lower incidence of positive immunohistochemistry, demonstrating tachyzoites and tissue cysts, and statistically significant ( P  = 0·03) lower mean burdens of parasite DNA in group 2 (attenuated) compared to group 1 (virulent). All mice in group 2 were protected following challenge on day 48 p.i. whereas naïve control mice succumbed to the challenge. No mice from group 1 (virulent) survived beyond day 24 p.i. so they were not included in the challenge.     

Occurrence of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii DNA in brain tissue from hoary foxes (Pseudalopex vetulus) in Brazil

The hoary fox (Pseudalopex vetulus) is a wild canid native to Brazil and is commonly found in the semiarid northeastern area living in contact with cattle. The main purpose of this study was to investigate the presence of Neospora caninum and Toxoplasma gondii DNA in hoary foxes, in the state of Paraíba, Brazil. Brain tissue samples were collected from 49 hoary foxes. From the samples, DNA extraction and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) were performed using specific primers for N. caninum and T. gondii. The prevalences found were 14.3% (7/49) for T. gondii and 12.2% (6/49) for N. caninum. The molecular identities of the amplified products were confirmed by means of the sequencing reaction. This study demonstrated the presence of N. caninum and T. gondii DNA in free-ranging hoary foxes in Brazil for the first time, thus confirming that this species is an intermediate host.     

Susceptibility of B-cell deficient C57BL/6 (μMT) mice to Neospora caninum infection

Neospora caninum is a coccidian parasite of veterinary importance by causing abortion or stillbirth in cattle among other problems in diverse animal species. We assessed an experimental murine model for its suitability to study the immune response to N. caninum infection. Thus, wild-type (wt) C57BL/6 mice and B-cell (and consequently antibody)-deficient microMT mice were infected with N. caninum tachyzoites and sacrificed at days 10, 24 and 29-44 post infection (dpi). Various organs were collected for parasitological and pathological analysis, spleen and serum for immunological investigations. Splenocytes were in vitro-stimulated with N. caninum (NC)- and T. gondii-antigens for assessing T cell proliferation and cytokine production. While wt mice were resistant to disease, microMT mice died starting from 29 dpi onwards. Histological examination of brain tissue from microMT mice exhibited a high infection intensity with multifocal necrotic cerebral lesions, which were absent in the brains of wt mice. NC antigen-stimulated spleen cells of both wt and microMT mice infected with N. caninum showed a marked proliferative depression at 10 dpi. At 24 dpi, this immunosuppression was still maintained in microMT mice whereas it was restored in wt mice. Stimulated splenocytes of infected microMT mice secreted significantly less IFN-gamma and less IL-10 than corresponding wt splenocytes. For IL-10, this difference increased with time. The susceptibility of microMT mice appeared associated to B-cell deficiency, allowing the persistent spread of the parasite causing immunosuppression and finally resulting in a lethal outcome of infection.     

伊维菌素对钩虫感染的疗效及对虫体超微结构的影响

观察伊维菌素对钩虫，蛔虫，鞭虫感染的治疗效果。将服药后驱出的博士 指肠钩虫及美洲钩虫与未服药的大钩虫作对照，应用透射电镜观察虫体体壁，肠壁，睾丸和卵巢的超微结构变化。服用伊维菌素后钩虫各系统的超微结构均产生破坏作用。对体壁破坏较轻，对肠壁破坏较严重，纹状层的微绒毛断裂，粘连，中心层破坏；睾丸及卵巢的内部 结构全部破坏成空泡或碎片，伊维菌素对上述三类肠道线虫均有较好疗效，但对钩虫的疗效稍差于阿苯达唑。     

Cellular immune responses in cattle experimentally infected with Neospora caninum

Neospora caninum has recently been identified as an important cause of infectious abortion in cattle. The parasite is closely related to Toxoplasma gondii , but the two species are antigenically distinct. To examine cell proliferative responses and the induction of IFN-γ in experimentally infected cattle, four 2–4 months old calves were subcutaneously inoculated with N. caninum tachyzoites. Peripheral blood mononuclear cells were collected regularly and stimulated in vitro with a crude lysate of N. caninum or T. gondii tachyzoites. Significant proliferative responses to N. caninum antigen were recorded in all calves from days 4–6 postinoculation. This response was accompanied by production of high levels of IFN-γ. Although the calves remained seronegative to T. gondii, while seroconverting to N. caninum , stimulation with T. gondii lysate resulted in cell proliferation of a similar magnitude as that obtained using the N. caninum lysate. However, the T. gondii lysate appeared less effective than the N. caninum lysate to stimulate IFN-γ production. Cells taken from uninfected control animals did not show any significant proliferation to either N. caninum or T. gondii antigen and no IFN-γ was produced. These results suggest that the two parasites may possess cross-reacting T-cell epitopes, but that the T cells specific for N. caninum may have a different functional capacity. This highlights the need to investigate the antigen specificity and cytokine profile of T cells from infected animals to help understand their role in immunity to N. caninum.     

Neospora caninum in dogs: detection of antibodies by ELISA using an iscom antigen

An indirect enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) for detection of antibodies to Neospora caninum in serum from dogs is described. Extracted tachyzoite proteins incorporated into immunostimulating complexes (iscoms) were used as coating antigen. A mixture of a monoclonal antibody to dog immunoglobulin G and a horse radish peroxidase conjugated antibody to mouse Ig was used to detect bound antibody. When the iscom preparation was analysed by means of sodium dodecyl sulphate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis it appeared to consist of a restricted number of proteins compared with whole parasite homogenates. In immunoblot analysis, using N. caninum positive sera from rabbits and dogs as probes, the major antigens recognized had approximate molecular weights between 30 and 45 and 17 to 19kDa. Compared with an ELISA using a crude solubilized tachyzoite antigen, the iscom ELISA substantially improved the sensitivity and specificity (to 97·6% and 95·6%, respectively, against an immunofluorescence test, IFAT, as indicator of true status). There was a statistically significant positive correlation between IFAT titres and iscom ELISA OD₄₅₀ values. The iscom ELISA absorbances (and the IFAT titres) of dogs with proven clinical infections were not higher than those from nonclinically affected, putatively infected dogs.     

Immune response in the adipose tissue of lean mice infected with the protozoan parasite Neospora caninum

The adipose tissue can make important contributions to immune function. Nevertheless, only a limited number of reports have investigated in lean hosts the immune response elicited in this tissue upon infection. Previous studies suggested that the intracellular protozoan Neospora caninum might affect adipose tissue physiology. Therefore, we investigated in mice challenged with this protozoan if immune cell populations within adipose tissue of different anatomical locations could be differently affected. Early in infection, parasites were detected in the adipose tissue and by 7 days of infection increased numbers of macrophages, regulatory T (Treg) cells and T‐bet⁺ cells were observed in gonadal, mesenteric, omental and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Increased expression of interferon‐γ was also detected in gonadal adipose tissue of infected mice. Two months after infection, parasite DNA was no longer detected in these tissues, but T helper type 1 (Th1) cell numbers remained above control levels in the infected mice. Moreover, the Th1/Treg cell ratio was higher than that of controls in the mesenteric and subcutaneous adipose tissue. Interestingly, chronically infected mice presented a marked increase of serum leptin, a molecule that plays a role in energy balance regulation as well as in promoting Th1‐type immune responses. Altogether, we show that an apicomplexa parasitic infection influences immune cellular composition of adipose tissue throughout the body as well as adipokine production, still noticed at a chronic phase of infection when parasites were already cleared from that particular tissue. This strengthens the emerging view that infections can have long‐term consequences for the physiology of adipose tissue.