Molecular and Pathological Study of Bovine Aborted Fetuses and Placenta from Neospora caninum Infected Dairy Cattle

"nBackground: The objective of the study was to evaluate the presence of Neospora caninum organisms in the brain of aborted fetuses and placentas of full-term calves born of seropositive cows. "nMethods: During 2006-2007, 12 brains of aborted calves from Neospora seropositive cattle and 7 pla­centas from seropositive dams giving birth to full-term calves, from four dairy cattle farms located around Tehran province, Iran were examined by Nested-PCR and histopathology techniques. "nResult: The Nested-PCR demonstrated that all of 12 aborted fetal brain samples and 5 of 7 placentas were infected by N. caninum. Mild to severe placentitis was observed in 5 placentas. Severe hyperemia and pe­rivascular and perineuronal edema revealed in all fetal brain. In 3 out of 12 brains, scattered foci of he­morrhages, neuropilar necrosis and gliosis were present. In addition, nonpurulent encephalitis with severe lymphohistiocytic perivascular cuffing in one case and a small tissue cyst like Neospora caninum cyst in other calf were observed. "n Conclusion: Our results confirmed the molecular and histopathologic findings of other studies about Neos­pora caninum infection and it seems to support the hypothesis that Neospora infection is associated with bovine abortion in Iran

Production and characterization of monoclonal antibody to bovine leukemia virus gp51-SU

Enzootic bovine leukemia (EBL) is a disease of cattle with worldwide distribution. The bovine leukemia virus (BLV), is a typical type C retrovirus, has four genes: gag, pol, pro and env, flanked by long terminal repeats (LTR) and lacking oncogenes. Gene env encodes a precursor protein named Pr72 env which undergoes glycosylation and lysis, giving rise to an envelope glycoprotein gp51-SU with a total of 12 epitopes. The objective of the present study was to produce a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) against BLV-gp51-SU following the standard immunization protocols. The antigen preparations included cellular lysates, a fraction of cellular lysates to study antibodies against BLV proteins precursors, whole virus particles and semipurified gp51 -SU. Both route of injection (SC and IP) resulted in hyperimmunized mice. As indicated by indirect-ELISA and also yielded high fusion efficiency. The hybridoma colonies were stable and had a tendency to save their ability to secrete antibodies. Fusions produced five positive colonies in screening tests, two of which were against gp51-SU. The targeted hydrophobic domain of the gp51-SU molecule was detected by one of the colonies of mAbs. The two interested mAbs were used for immunohistochemistry on lymph node sections of a cow with lymphosarcoma which can detect immunoreactive materials in sections and also in H&E staining. We conclude the produced panel of mAbs is able to be used in detection of gp51-SU and a new epitope identified on this molecule could be used in IHC method for diagnosis of BLV infection. © IDOSI Publications, 2011.Raziallah Jafari Joozani, Parvaneh Khazrai Nia, Mohammad Taheri, Farhid Hemmatzadeh and Javad Ashrafihela