Abstract
The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of one or two doses of the anti-rabies vaccination on the serum concentration of cortisol and the humoral immune response in cattle as well as the correlation between serum cortisol concentrations and the titers of rabies-neutralizing antibodies. Nelore cattle were randomly assigned to one of three groups, which were vaccinated with one dose of rabies vaccine (group GVSR, N = 15), two doses of rabies vaccine (group GVR, N = 15) or were not vaccinated (group Gc, N = 15). A commercial liquid inactivated rabies vaccine was used. The stressors imposed on the cattle were vaccination, corral handling and the presence of people. Blood samples were collected on days 0, 30 and 60 post-vaccination. Serum cortisol concentrations were determined using a solid-phase radioimmunoassay, and rabies antibody titers were determined using a serum neutralization test with BHK21 cells (RFFIT). Both serum cortisol concentrations and antibody titers increased after the second (booster) vaccination (P
Highlights
Rabies is a viral infectious disease of the central nervous system of mammals that is caused by a neurotropic virus of the Rhabdoviridae family and the Lyssavirus genus [1,2]
The cattle GVR group displayed a significant increase (P < 0.05) in serum cortisol concentration after receiving the second rabies vaccination on day 30 compared with the Gc and GVSR groups (Figure 1)
There was no significant difference (P > 0.05) in the antirabies antibody titers between the GVSR and GVR groups on day 30, but on day 60 of observation, there was a significant increase of antirabies antibody titers in the GVR group (Table 2)
Summary
Rabies is a viral infectious disease of the central nervous system of mammals that is caused by a neurotropic virus of the Rhabdoviridae family and the Lyssavirus genus [1,2]. During vaccinetion, it may necessary to submit the animals to various stressors, such as handling, i.e., moving them to a corral that is a new and unknown environment for the animals [5,6], the presence of people and people yelling [7,8] and the pain caused by vaccine application [9] These stressors activate the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal (HPA) axis and adrenal glands to stimulate produce and secrete cortisol, epinephrine and norepinephrine hormones [6, 10,11], and a high elevation in cortisol bloodstream is associated with immunosuppressive effects [12] and can cause the reduced production of anti-rabies antibodies in animals as related by Ciuchini et al [13], Queiroz da OPEN ACCESS
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