Abstract
BackgroundScabies, caused by infestation of the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, is one of the most severe ectoparasitic diseases in rabbits. Scabies seriously affects the commercial rabbit breeding, causing severe economic losses. Host resistance to S. scabiei is an important factor in further development of the rabbit industry. In the present study, we compared the host resistance to S. scabiei var. cuniculi of a new breed of domestic rabbit propagated by the Sichuan Animal Sciences Academy (QiXing rabbit, QX) compared with that of a traditional rabbit breed in the domestic rabbit industry (IRA rabbit, IRA).MethodsBoth QX and IRA rabbits were experimentally infested with live S. scabiei var. cuniculi mites for 48 h. Then, during the course of four-week experimental infestation period, the body weight of rabbits was recorded every two weeks for calculating body-weight variations in comparison to the non-infested control rabbits. Skin lesions in the foot area were assessed on weekly basis and serum samples were tested weekly for the estimation of changes in the total antibody levels (IgG, IgE and IgM). Moreover, DNA extracted from the blood samples was amplified for analysis of the genetic diversity in the major histocompatibility complex, class II, DQ Alpha (MHC-DQA) gene.ResultsCompared to the IRA rabbits, the QX rabbits showed a significantly higher (P < 0.05) relative body weight gain compared to the non-infested control rabbits and significantly lower (P < 0.05) scores for foot skin lesions and higher levels of IgG, IgE and IgM at weeks 1 to 4, week 2 and week 1 post-infestation, respectively. Furthermore, a polymorphism site at position 103 bp of exon two of MHC-DQA gene and a different gene frequency were found between two rabbit breeds, suggesting the genetic basis for the differential host resistance to the S. scabiei var. cuniculi between two rabbit breeds.ConclusionsThe QX rabbits showed higher host resistance to S. scabiei var. cuniculi compared to the IRA rabbits at the clinical, immunological and genetic levels. These results provide a reference for the breeding of rabbits with adequately improved and sustained host resistance to scabies in the domestic rabbit industry.
Highlights
Scabies, caused by infestation of the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, is one of the most severe ectoparasitic diseases in rabbits
The experimentally infested IRA rabbits gained less weight compared to the QiXing rabbit (QX) rabbits over the course of the experiment, indicating that the IRA rabbits were relatively less resistant and affected more following infestation
These results indicated that the IRA rabbits exhibited more serious clinical signs of infestation of S. scabiei var. cuniculi compared to the QX rabbits
Summary
Scabies, caused by infestation of the mite Sarcoptes scabiei, is one of the most severe ectoparasitic diseases in rabbits. Scabies is a highly contagious infestation caused by Sarcoptes scabiei. These mites can burrow into the skin, feed on epithelial cells and serum, leading to serious skin lesions [1]. This parasitic skin disease has worldwide distribution and affects a wide range of hosts including humans, domestic animals and wildlife [2, 3]. Cuniculi infestation, it is important to develop a rabbit breed with improved host resistance to S. scabiei var. Bearing in mind the severe economic losses frequently occurring in rabbitries due to S. scabiei var. cuniculi infestation, it is important to develop a rabbit breed with improved host resistance to S. scabiei var. cuniculi, which will help strengthen the rabbit industry
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