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Navarro JA, García de la Fuente JN, Sánchez J, Martínez CM, Buendía AJ, Gutiérrez-Martín CB, Rodriguez-Ferri EF, Ortega N, Salinas J. Kinetics of Infection and Effects on the Placenta of Clamydophila abortus in Experimentally Infected Pregnant Ewes. Vet Pathol 2016; 41:498-505. [PMID: 15347822 DOI: 10.1354/vp.41-5-498] [Citation(s) in RCA: 33] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/19/2022]
Abstract
A Chlamydophila abortus-induced abortion model was carried out on the basis of the experimental infection of ewes at day 75 of gestation. The infection induced abortions and the birth of weak lambs during the last 3 weeks of pregnancy. To study the kinetics of the infection in the placenta and in other organs, infected ewes were killed at 105, 120, and 130 days of gestation and also several days after abortion or parturition. Infected ewes developed a systemic infection that caused a mild and transient pneumonia and focal hepatitis. Pathologic changes were observed in placentas at 120 day of gestation, although the lesions varied between animals and even between placentomes of the same placenta. The first placental area infected was the maternal stroma and epithelium next to the intercaruncular areas, where neutrophilic response seemed to control the infection. A substantial degree of multiplication of C. abortus was then observed in the trophoblast cells of the placentome, periplacentomal choriallantoic membranes, and hilius, with an inflammatory exudate composed mainly of neutrophils, some macrophages, and very scarce lymphocytes. After abortion, the lesions affected the intercotyledonary areas of the aborted placentas, whereas in the uterus significant lymphocyte infiltration was observed, together with a rapid decrease of the C. abortus antigen in the degenerated caruncular tissues.
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Affiliation(s)
- J A Navarro
- Departmento de Anatomía y Anatomía Patológica Comparadas, Facultad deVeterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
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del Rio L, Barberá-Cremades M, Navarro JA, Buendía AJ, Cuello F, Ortega N, Gallego MC, Salinas J, Caro MR. IFN-γ expression in placenta is associated to resistance to Chlamydia abortus after intragastric infection. Microb Pathog 2012; 56:1-7. [PMID: 23287018 DOI: 10.1016/j.micpath.2012.12.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/30/2012] [Revised: 12/12/2012] [Accepted: 12/13/2012] [Indexed: 11/26/2022]
Abstract
Intragastric infection mimics the natural route of infection of Chlamydia abortus (etiological agent of ovine enzootic abortion). In the mouse model, intragastric experimental infection induces very mild signs of infection followed by late term abortions, as it is shown by the natural ovine host. In order to evaluate the immune mechanisms associated to the dissemination of the pathogen from the gastrointestinal tract, we have administered an intragastric dose of C. abortus to pregnant mice. Systemic and local expression of cytokines, tissue colonization and excretion of bacteria after parturition were monitored during pregnancy. Susceptible CBA/J mice showed a higher bacterial colonization of the placenta and excretion of live bacteria after parturition that were related to a higher local IL-10 expression. By contrast, resistant C57BL/6 mouse strain had higher local IFN-γ mRNA expression in the placenta just before parturition and a transient bacterial colonization of the reproductive tract, with no excretion of C. abortus after parturition. In summary, intragastric infection not only mimics the natural route of infection of C. abortus, but can also be useful in order to understand the immunopathogenesis of chlamydial abortion in the mouse.
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Affiliation(s)
- L del Rio
- Department of Animal Health, Regional Campus of International Excellence "Campus Mare Nostrum", University of Murcia, Spain.
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Caro MR, Buendía AJ, Del Rio L, Ortega N, Gallego MC, Cuello F, Navarro JA, Sanchez J, Salinas J. Chlamydophila abortus infection in the mouse: a useful model of the ovine disease. Vet Microbiol 2008; 135:103-11. [PMID: 18945558 DOI: 10.1016/j.vetmic.2008.09.029] [Citation(s) in RCA: 17] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 10/21/2022]
Abstract
Chlamydophila (C.) abortus is an obligate intracellular bacterium able to colonize the placenta of several species of mammals, which may induce abortion in the last third of pregnancy. The infection affects mainly small ruminants resulting in major economic losses in farming industries worldwide. Furthermore, its zoonotic risk has been reported in pregnant farmers or abattoir workers. Mouse models have been widely used to study both the pathology of the disease and the role of immune cells in controlling infection. Moreover, this animal experimental model has been considered a useful tool to evaluate new vaccine candidates and adjuvants that could prevent abortion and reduce fetal death. Future studies using these models will provide and reveal information about the precise mechanisms in the immune response against C. abortus and will increase the knowledge about poorly understood issues such as chlamydial persistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- M R Caro
- Departamento de Sanidad Animal, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, 30100 Campus de Espinardo, Murcia, Spain.
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Buendía AJ, Nicolás L, Ortega N, Gallego MC, Martinez CM, Sanchez J, Caro MR, Navarro JA, Salinas J. Characterization of a murine model of intranasal infection suitable for testing vaccines against C. abortus. Vet Immunol Immunopathol 2006; 115:76-86. [PMID: 17092568 DOI: 10.1016/j.vetimm.2006.10.008] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/21/2006] [Revised: 10/08/2006] [Accepted: 10/11/2006] [Indexed: 10/23/2022]
Abstract
Mouse models have been widely used to test candidate vaccines against Chlamydophila abortus infection in mice. Although the induction of a systemic infection by endogenous or intraperitoneal inoculation is a useful tool for understanding the immune mechanism involved in the protection conferred by the vaccination, a different approach is necessary to understand other factors of the infection, such as mucosal immunity or the colonization of target organs. To test whether C. abortus intranasal model of infection in mice is a useful tool for testing vaccines in a first group of experiments mice, were infected intranasally with C. abortus to characterize the model of infection. When this model was used to test vaccines, two inactivated experimental vaccines, one of them adjuvated with QS-21 and another with aluminium hydroxide, and a live attenuated vaccine (strain 1B) were used. Non-vaccinated control mice died within the first 8 days, after displaying substantial loss of weight. Histologically, the mice showed lobar fibrinopurulent bronchointerstitial pneumonia. Prior immunization with QS-21 adjuvated vaccine or 1B vaccine presented mortality and the recipients showed a greater number of T cells in the lesions, especially CD8(+) T cells, than the control mice and mice immunized with vaccine adjuvated with aluminium hydroxide. The results confirm that the C. abortus intranasal model of infection in mice is a useful tool for testing vaccines.
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Affiliation(s)
- A J Buendía
- Departamento de Histologia y Anatomia Patologica, Facultad de Veterinaria, Universidad de Murcia, Campus de Espinard, 30100 Murcia, Spain.
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Abstract
Chlamydophila abortus (formerly Chlamydia psittaci) is one of the most important causes of reproductive failure in sheep and goats, especially in intensively managed flocks. The disease is usually manifested as abortion in the last 2 to 3 weeks of gestation, regardless of when the animal was infected. Ewes that abort are resistant to future reproductive failure due to C. abortus, but they become inapparent carriers and persistently shed the organism from their reproductive tracts during estrus. Chlamydophila pecorum is the other member of the genus that affects small ruminants, and it is recognized as a primary cause of keratoconjunctivitis in sheep and goats and of polyarthritis in sheep.
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Affiliation(s)
- J C Nietfeld
- Department of Diagnostic Medicine/Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas, USA.
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Abstract
This review summarizes the dramatic changes that have occurred in the taxonomy of bacteria known as Chlamydia. Best known for the diseases they cause in humans, these intracellular bacteria also comprise many species that are responsible for a wide variety of clinically and economically important diseases in livestock and companion animals. The old taxonomy grouped most of these species into C. psittaci because systematic methods for routinely distinguishing them were not available. DNA-based testing methods are now available that distinguish different chlamydial families, genera, and species. This summary reviews these tests and a number of oligonucleotide primers that distinguish these groups using PCR and PCR-RFLP. DNA-based methods are also being used to discover new families of chlamydia-like bacteria, at least one of which is responsible for abortion in cattle (Waddlia chondrophila). This review summarizes the pathogenic roles of the Chlamydiaceae, new families, and individual species within the order Chlamydiales. These discoveries create opportunities for veterinarians to carry out epidemiological studies of chlamydiae that previously were not possible.
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Affiliation(s)
- K D Everett
- Department of Medical Microbiology and Parasitology, College of Veterinary Medicine, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602, USA.
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Guscetti F, Schiller I, Sydler T, Corboz L, Pospischil A. Experimental Chlamydia psittaci serotype 1 enteric infection in gnotobiotic piglets: histopathological, immunohistochemical and microbiological findings. Vet Microbiol 1998; 62:251-63. [PMID: 9791872 DOI: 10.1016/s0378-1135(98)00221-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/24/2022]
Abstract
The enteric pathogenicity of the ovine C. psittaci serotype 1 isolate S26/3 was assessed using a litter of gnotobiotic piglets. In one group, eight piglets were inoculated at 3 days of age; at 10 days, two of these were re-inoculated. In a second group, six animals were mock-inoculated at 3 days of age as negative controls; subsequently, at 10 days, three of these piglets were inoculated with C. psittaci. The animals were observed for clinical signs, killed and necropsied sequentially between 4 and 17 days of age. At necropsy, specimens were collected for histopathology, immunohistochemistry and serology. Clinical manifestations consisted of sporadic slight softening of faeces observed between 8 and 12 days post inoculation (d.p.i.) in pigs inoculated at 3 days of age and between 4 and 6 d.p.i. in those inoculated at day 10. Histopathological changes were minimal and inconsistent and occurred almost exclusively in the small intestine in pigs of 15 days of age and older; they consisted of a slight shortening of villi, of a small number of tongue-shaped villi and of villous fusions. Immunohistochemistry revealed small numbers of chlamydial inclusions in the small intestinal enterocytes of only five pigs, all killed within 5 d.p.i. An ELISA run on faecal samples collected daily after inoculation from six of the pigs showed that chlamydial antigen was excreted in the faeces. In pigs inoculated at 3 days, chlamydial antigen was detected inconsistently before, and consistently after 9 d.p.i. Pigs inoculated at 10 days excreted antigen consistently after inoculation until the end of their observation period (8 d.p.i.). Infective chlamydiae were detected from the faeces of inoculated piglets using Vero cell cultures. Sera of all pigs were negative for anti-chlamydial antibodies using a complement fixation test. In conclusion, enteric pathogenicity of C. psittaci serotype 1 in a litter of gnotobiotic piglets proved minimal. The results, therefore, indicate that serotype 1 C. psittaci is not likely to cause enteric disease in conventionally reared pigs. Nevertheless, a potential role of swine in the epidemiology of this agent should be considered with regard to spread of Chlamydia to other species.
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Affiliation(s)
- F Guscetti
- Institute of Veterinary Pathology, University of Zurich, Switzerland.
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Buxton D, Rae AG, Maley SW, Thomson KM, Livingstone M, Jones GE, Herring AJ. Pathogenesis of Chlamydia psittaci infection in sheep: detection of the organism in a serial study of the lymph node. J Comp Pathol 1996; 114:221-30. [PMID: 8762580 DOI: 10.1016/s0021-9975(96)80044-2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 34] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/02/2023]
Abstract
Sixteen sheep were inoculated subcutaneously over the left prefemoral lymph node with an abortifacient strain of Chlamydia psittaci. Groups of four animals were killed after 3, 6, 12 and 18 days. Four of eight sheep which received a control inoculum were killed on day 6 and four on day 18. The left and right prefemoral lymph nodes were removed and weighed and portions taken from each for examination by the polymerase chain reaction (PCR), by culture, and by histopathological and immunohistochemical methods. The left prefemoral lymph nodes enlarged after the injection of C. psittaci, with the group mean weight on day 6 being the greatest and that on day 18 being normal. Examination by "nested" PCR showed samples from these nodes to be positive, except for one animal killed on day 3 and one on day 12. Live organisms, however, were not cultured from any of the samples collected. C. psittaci antigen was detected immunohistochemically in three of four nodes on day 3, in each of four on day 6, and in two of four on both days 12 and 18. Nodes from the contralateral side remained normal, as did those from unchallenged control sheep, and no antigen or DNA was detected in them.
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Affiliation(s)
- D Buxton
- Moredun Research Institute, Edinburgh, UK
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Amin JD, Wilsmore AJ. In vitro survival of the BS isolate of Chlamydia psittaci (ovis) in ruminal and abomasal contents. Res Vet Sci 1995; 59:136-8. [PMID: 8525102 DOI: 10.1016/0034-5288(95)90047-0] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023]
Abstract
The ability of the pathogenic BS isolate of Chlamydia psittaci (ovis) to survive after inoculation into ruminal or abomasal contents, and chlamydial transport medium held at 39 degrees C, was assessed by taking hourly samples which were cultured in mitomycin-treated McCoy cells. The chlamydiae survived for nine hours in the ruminal contents, eight hours in the abomasal contents and for 12 hours in transport medium, when the experiment was concluded. There was a steady decrease in the numbers of the organism in the ruminal and abomasal contents as their pH decreased, but the numbers in the transport medium also decreased without a corresponding change in pH. It is therefore possible that ewes may become infected with C psittaci (ovis) orally via the gastrointestinal tract.
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Affiliation(s)
- J D Amin
- Department of Animal Health, Royal Veterinary College, Potters Bar, Hertfordshire
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Jones GE. Chlamydia psittaci: prevailing problems in pathogenesis. THE BRITISH VETERINARY JOURNAL 1995; 151:115-8. [PMID: 8920109 DOI: 10.1016/s0007-1935(95)80003-4] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 02/03/2023]
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