Apoptosis Induction in Duck Tissues during Duck Hepatitis A Virus Type 1 Infection
Researchers in China have found that the multiplication of the virus is exacerbated by changes in the destruction of the duck tissues.At Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, China, X.D. Sheng and colleagues have been studying apoptosis - the process of programmed cell death - in tissues during duck hepatitis A virus type 1 infection, publishing a paper on their work in Poultry Science.
To investigate the role of apoptosis in duck viral hepatitis pathogenesis, ducks were inoculated at four and 21 days of age with duck hepatitis A virus serotype 1 and killed two, six, 12, 24 and 48 hours post-infection.
TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labelling was used to detect apoptosis cells. Expression profiles of apoptosis-related genes including caspase-3, -8, -9, and Bcl-2 in spleen, bursa of Fabricius, liver and the quantity of virus in blood were examined using real-time PCR.
The TdT-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling analysis indicated there was a significant difference of apoptotic cells between treatments and controls. The same difference also appeared in virus amount variation in blood during infection.
Gene expression analysis revealed that the apoptosis-related gene expression profile was different in the two groups, and also different between various organs.
Sheng and co-authors say their results suggest that apoptosis may play an important role in duck hepatitis A virus serotype 1 infection, and apoptosis suppression might facilitate virus multiplication, resulting in the highest virus concentration in the host.
Reference
Sheng X.D., W.P. Zhang, Q.R. Zhang, C.Q. Gu, X.Y. Hu and G.F. Cheng. 2014. Apoptosis induction in duck tissues during duck hepatitis A virus type 1 infection. Poultry Science. 93(3):527-534. doi: 10.3382/ps.2013-03510
Further Reading
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Find out more about duck viral hepatitis by clicking here.
March 2014