Production of Coturnix quail immunoglobulins Y (IgYs) against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus

This research article published by Springer Nature Switzerland AG., 2011Production of chicken immunoglobulins Y (IgYs) and their applications in prophylactic, therapeutic, detection of microbial contaminants and as a diagnostic tool has been widely studied with limited information from other avians. This study produced Coturnix quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica) egg yolk IgYs against Vibrio parahaemolyticus and Vibrio vulnificus. Formalin inactivated (FIVP, FIVV, mixed FI-VP/VV) and heat inactivated (HIVP, HIVV, mixed HI-VP/VV) Vibrio immunogens (109 CFU/mL) were intramuscularly immunized into quail through thigh muscles. Egg yolk IgY was purified by water dilution-ammonium sulfate precipitation method and the activity was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Formalin inactivated immunogens induced high humoral immune response for both V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus over heat inactivated immunogens. However, IgYs resulted from HIVP and FIVV immunogens, showed high specificity to V. parahaemolyticus and V. vulnificus respectively. Detection limits of the indirect ELISA using the produced IgYs were 105 CFU/mL for V. parahaemolyticus and 106 CFU/mL for V. vulnificus. The developed antibodies showed high binding affinity to their corresponding immunogens, very little cross reactivity to Staphylococcus aureus and not other bacteria strains (p<0.05), a phenomenon which was also observed in Western blot

Early regulators in abortion and implications for a preeclampsia model.

This paper reports a summary of our comparative analysis of the uterine expression of interleukin-23 (IL-23), IL-27 and TWEAK in the CBA/J femalexDBA/2 male mouse mating combination, a model of immune-mediated early pregnancy loss. Compared with the MHC-identical CBA/JxBALB/c mating combination, which yields successful pregnancies, immunohistochemistry and qPCR in uterine tissue showed an immediate post-mating IL-27 hyper-expression after mating with DBA/2 males. Intra-uterine TWEAK expression was present in females mated with DBA/2 or Balb/c males from days 0.5 to 4.5 post-coitum (pc), peaking on day 0.5 pc together with uterine TNFalpha. In uteri of DBA/2 mated mice, TWEAK declined to almost undetectable levels on days 6.5-9.5 pc, a steeper drop than in BALB/c mated mice where TWEAK remained detectable. In both mating combinations, neutralisation of TWEAK by antibodies increased resorption rates, but surprisingly, so did IL-27 neutralisation. The complement regulator mannan binding lectin-A (MBL-A), but not MBL-C, was present on day 4.5 pc especially after mating with DBA/2 males. High levels of MBL are present in the uterine luminal fluid of sterile women, and possible functions for TWEAK and MBL in human implantation are indicated by their protein and mRNA expression in uterine biopsies from infertile and fertile individuals. Consistent with the results in mice, increased MBL expression is linked with pregnancy failure. Serum and uterine VEGF and VEGF receptor levels are also different between fertile and sterile patients. The implications of these findings for utilising the CBA/JxDBA/2 mating combination as an early onset model of preeclampsia are discussed