China Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Medicine ›› 2022, Vol. 49 ›› Issue (4): 1488-1496.doi: 10.16431/j.cnki.1671-7236.2022.04.031

• Preventive Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Influence of Avian Reticuloendotheliosis Virus Infection on Expression of Bcl-2 and C-myc Genes and Apoptosis in Bursa of Fabricius Cells of SPF Chickens

GU Xianzhe, HOU Ning, LYU Xiaoping, GAO Xueli, LIU Chaonan, WU Wenjie, ZHENG Shimin   

  1. Heilongjiang Key Laboratory for Laboratory Animals and Comparative Medicine, College of Veterinary Medicine, Northeast Agricultural University, Harbin 150030, China
  • Revised:2021-09-21 Online:2022-04-05 Published:2022-03-25

Abstract: 【Objective】 This experiment was aimed to investigate the mechanism of apoptosis of immune organs caused by avian Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV).【Method】 SPF chickens were selected as experimental subjects in this study.100 1-day-old SPF chickens were randomly divided into REV-infected group and uninfected control group.Those REV-infected chickens were taken 500 μL of REV dilution by peritoneal injection,the control group chicks were injected with sterilized saline instead.On the 1st,7th,14th,21th,28th and 42th day after virus infection,5 chickens were randomly selected from these two groups of chickens,and their bursas were quickly removed after execution.HE staining and pathological imaging system were applied to observe the nuclear-cytoplasm ratio of bursa of Fabricius cells,TUNEL assay was used to determine the quantity of apoptotic cells,immunohistochemical method was used to count the number of Bcl-2 and C-myc positive cells,and Real-time PCR and ELISA methods were used to test the mRNA expression and protein content of Bcl-2 and C-myc genes in the bursa of Fabricius.【Result】 The results showed that:①21-42 days after SPF chickens infected with REV,the percentage of apoptosis of bursal lymphocytes was significantly or extremely significantly higher than that of the control chickens (P<0.05;P<0.01);②21-28 days after SPF chickens infected with REV,the ratio of lymphocyte to cytoplasm in the bursa of Fabricius was significantly lower than that of control chickens (P<0.05);③The number of Bcl-2 and C-myc positive cells in the bursa of Fabricius of SPF chickens infected with REV was significantly higher than that of control chickens at 21 and 28 d (P<0.05);④21 d after REV infection,the expression of Bcl-2 and C-myc genes mRNA in bursa of Fabricius was extremely significantly higher than that of control chickens (P<0.01);⑤After SPF chickens infected with REV,the Bcl-2 protein content in the bursa of Fabricius was increased to different degrees compared with control group chickens,and the difference between 21 and 28 d was extremely significant (P<0.01) and significant (P<0.05),respectively.The content of C-myc protein in the REV-infected group was always higher than that in the control group,and it was increased extremely significantly from 21 to 28 d (P<0.01).【Conclusion】 The above results indicated that the abnormal expression of Bcl-2 and C-myc in the bursa of Fabricius of SPF chickens caused by REV infection was related to the apoptosis of bursal of Fabricius cells caused by the virus,and the increased apoptosis in the number of bursal of Fabricius cell was related to the suppression of immune function caused by REV infection.

Key words: Reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV); SPF chickens; bursa of Fabricius; apoptosis

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