Hepatic cholinesterase of laying hens naturally infected by Salmonella Gallinarum (fowl typhoid)

Abstract

Salmonella is a facultative intracellular pathogen that may cause foodborne gastroenteritis in humans and animals consisting of over 2000 serovars. The serovar Salmonella Gallinarum is an important worldwide pathogen of poultry. However, little is known on the mechanisms of pathogenesis of Salmonella in chickens. The aim of this study was to evaluate cholinesterase and myeloperoxidase activities in hepatic tissue of laying hens naturally infected by S. Gallinarum. Twenty positive liver samples for S. Gallinarum were collected, in addition to seven liver samples from healthy uninfected laying hens (control group). The right liver lobe was homogenized for analysis of acetylcholinesterase (AChE), butyrylcholinesterase (BChE) and myeloperoxidase (MPO), and the left lobe was divided into two fragments, one for histopathology and the other for Salmonella isolation. The results showed changes in AChE and BchE activity in the liver of infected laying hens compared to the control group (P < 0.05), i.e. reduced AChE and increased BChE activities in liver samples. Infected animals showed increased MPO activity compared to healthy animals (P < 0.05). Furthermore, the histopathological findings showed fibrinoid necrosis associated to the infiltration of lymphocytes, plasma cells, macrophages,heterophils in the liver of infected hens. These findings suggest that the inflammatory process was attenuated providing a pro-inflammatory action of both enzyme analyzed in order to reduce the free ACh, a molecule which has an anti-inflammatory action. Therefore, our results lead to the hypothesis that cholinesterase plays an important role on the modulation of immune response against S. Gallinarum with an inflammatory effect, contributing to the response against this bacterium. This study should contribute to a better understanding on the pathogenic mechanisms involved in laying hens infected by S. Gallinarum.