Abstract

This field study explored the cytokine expression in intestinal tissue and serum from 19 diarrhoeic and 9 healthy pigs in herds with a long-time history of Lawsonia intracellularis-infection. The disease, proliferative enteropathy (PE), is associated with diarrhoea and poor performance in growers and haemorrhagic diarrhoea and sudden death in finisher pigs, but the immunopathology is poorly understood. Histopathology, demonstration of L intracellularis and porcine circovirus type 2 (PCV2) in intestinal tissue by PCR, and detection of serum antibodies to L. intracellularis, were performed. The presence of IL-1 beta, IL-6, IL-10, IFN-alpha, IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and TGF-beta in sera was determined by immunoassays, and intestinal mRNA expression of these cytokines plus IL-12p40 was determined by qPCR. Intestinal specimens from pigs with intestinal adenomatosis (n = 2), proliferative haemorrhagic enteropathy or swine dysentery (n = 2), and controls (n = 2) were analysed by a genome wide porcine microarray. The clinical signs of PE were not always supported by the subsequent analyses, and the presence of PCV2 may have contributed to an increased mRNA expression for IFN-gamma in intestinal specimens from some pigs. The limited gene expression in the microarray analyses and the limited expression of cytokines in both sera and intestines, indicate that the immune response is poorly activated in the initial course of an infection with L. intracellularis. However, the gene encoding for insulin-like growth factor binding protein 3 (IGFBP-3) was up-regulated in two pigs with prominent mucosal proliferation. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Keywords

Lawsonia intracellularis; Swine; Cytokines; Gene expression; Microarray; PCV2; Swine dysentery

Published in

Veterinary Microbiology
2011, Volume: 153, number: 3-4, pages: 307-314
Publisher: ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

SLU Authors

• Jacobson, Magdalena

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Andersson, Märit

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Lindberg, Ronny

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Fossum, Caroline

  • Department of Animal Biosciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Jensen Waern, Marianne

  • Department of Clinical Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Clinical Science


Publication identifier

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vetmic.2011.06.003

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/57693