title: Maternal and fetal immune response patterns in heifers experimentally infected with Neospora caninum in the second trimester of pregnancy--a descriptive study.
abstract: Fetal and maternal immune responses 3, 6 and 9 weeks post infection (wpi) were investigated in cows experimentally infected with Neospora caninum on day 110 of gestation. Descriptive analysis showed that the fetuses had lower percentages of spleen T cell subpopulations (CD3+, CD4+ and CD8+) at 6 wpi compared to 3 wpi and/or 9 wpi, with the lowest percentages observed in a dead fetus found upon euthanasia at that time. Increased expression of most cytokines over levels recorded at 3 and 9 wpi were found in fetuses that were alive at 6 wpi. Up-regulated Th1, Th2 and Treg expression was also observed at 6 wpi in the spleen and in the lymph nodes draining the placenta of the cows. At the placental level, while most cytokines were down-regulated from 6 wpi, up-regulation of IL-4 expression was observed at 6 wpi in the caruncle. Our results suggest that the immune response at 6 wpi was crucial for fetal survival in this model of bovine neosporosis.
authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i d'Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària and Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: Sonia.Almeria@uab.cat.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Almería
authors.affiliation: Agrotecnio Center, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Serrano-Pérez
authors.affiliation: Departament de Sanitat i d'Anatomia Animals, Facultat de Veterinària and Centre de Recerca en Sanitat Animal (CReSA), Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Darwich
authors.affiliation: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, ICB, Bloco I4, Sala 177, Av. Antônio Carlos 6627, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Araujo
authors.affiliation: Agrotecnio Center, University of Lleida, Lleida, Spain.
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Lopez-Gatius
authors.affiliation: Animal Parasitic Diseases Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
authors.forename: J P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Dubey
authors.affiliation: Bovine Functional Genomic Laboratory, Beltsville Agricultural Research Center, Agricultural Research Service, United States Department of Agriculture, Beltsville, MD 20705, USA.
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Gasbarre
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002417:Cattle; D002418:Cattle Diseases / Q000276:immunology*; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*; D016207:Cytokines / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005313:Fetal Death; D005333:Fetus / Q000276:immunology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005865:Gestational Age; D018688:Neospora / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology*; D010920:Placenta / Q000276:immunology; D011247:Pregnancy; D015597:Pregnancy Complications, Parasitic / Q000662:veterinary; D011256:Pregnancy Outcome; D011270:Pregnancy, Animal
chemical_list: D016207:Cytokines
keywords: Bovine; Maternal and fetal immune response; Neospora caninum; Sequential analysis