Effects of Intranasal Pseudorabies Virus AH02LA Infection on Microbial Community and Immune Status in the Ileum and Colon of Piglets

• Published in: Viruses Vol. 11; no. 6; p. 518
• Main Authors: Zhang, Chuanjian, Liu, Yamei, Chen, Saisai, Qiao, Yongfeng, Zheng, Yating, Xu, Mengwei, Wang, Zhisheng, Hou, Jibo, Wang, Jichun, Fan, Hongjie
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 05.06.2019; MDPI
• Subjects: Abundance; Bacteria; Colon; Community composition; Diarrhea; Experiments; Fever; Gene expression; Hogs; Homeostasis; Ileum; Immune status; Immune system; Immunoglobulin A; Infections; Inoculation; intranasal PRV AH02LA infection; Lactic acid; Metabolites; microbial community; microbial metabolites; Microbiota; Mortality; Mucosa; Pathogens; piglets; Pseudorabies; Small intestine; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; Viral infections; Weaning; United Kingdom > UK; United States > US; China; intranasal PRV AH02LA infection; microbial community; microbial metabolites; piglets; immune status
• ISSN: 1999-4915; 1999-4915
• DOI: 10.3390/v11060518

Pseudorabies virus (PRV) variants broke out in china since 2011, causing high fever, respiratory distress, systemic neurological symptoms, and diarrhea in piglets. This study investigated the effect of intranasal PRV variant (AH02LA) infection on ileal and colonic bacterial communities and immune status in piglets. Ten piglets (free of PRV) were assigned to PRV variant and control groups (uninfected). At day 5 after inoculation, all piglets were euthanized. No PRV was detected in the ileal and colonic mucosa. In the PRV group, we observed up-regulation of specific cytokines gene expression, down-regulation of intestinal barrier-related gene expression, and reduction of secretory immunoglobulin A (sIgA) concentration in the ileum and colon. PRV infection increased the diversity of ileal bacterial community composition. PRV infection reduced the abundance of some beneficial bacteria ( species in the ileum and colon; butyrate-producing bacteria species in the colon) and increased the abundance of potentially pathogenic in the ileum and in the colon. Moreover, PRV infection decreased concentrations of the beneficial lactate in the ileum and butyrate in the colon. However, this study does not allow to evaluate whether the observed changes are directly due to the PRV infection or rather to indirect effects (fever, clinical signs and changes in diet), and will be our next research content. In summary, our findings provide evidence that intranasal PRV infection directly or indirectly brings gut health risks and implications, although no PRV was detected in the ileum and colon.