Abstract
Newcastle disease (ND), which is caused by Newcastle disease virus (NDV), can cause heavy economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide. It is characterised by extensive pathologies of the digestive, respiratory, and nervous systems and can cause severe damage to the reproductive system of egg-laying hens. However, it is unknown whether NDV replicates in the male reproductive system of chickens and induces any pathologies. In this study, we selected a representative strain (i.e. ZJ1) of the most common genotype (i.e. VII) of NDV to investigate whether NDV can induce histological, hormonal, and inflammatory responses in the testes of specific pathogen free (SPF) roosters. NDV infection increased the expression of toll like receptor TLR3, TLR7, MDA5, IFN-α, IFN-β, IFN-γ, IL-8, and CXCLi1 in the testes of NDV-infected roosters at 5 days post-infection (dpi). Severe histological changes, including decrease in the number of Sertoli cells and individualized, shrunken spermatogonia with pyknotic nuclei, were observed at 3 dpi. At 5 dpi, the spermatogenic columns were disorganized, and there were fewer cells, which were replaced by necrotic cells, lipid vacuoles, and proteinaceous homogenous material. A significant decrease in the plasma concentrations of testosterone and luteinizing hormone (LH) and the mRNA expression of their receptors in the testes, steroidogenic acute regulatory protein, cytochrome P450 side-chain cleavage enzyme, and 3β-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase in the NDV-infected group was observed relative to those in the control group (P < 0.05). Collectively, these results indicate that NDV infection induces a severe inflammatory response and histological changes, which decrease the steroidogenesis.
Highlights
Newcastle disease (ND) is caused by Avian orthoavulavirus 1 (AOAV 1) (formerly designated as Avian avulavirus 1 (AAvV-1)), commonly known as Avian paramyxovirus 1 (APMV-1), or Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and is a leading cause of economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide [1, 2]
Histopathological findings The normal progression of spermatogenesis involves the formation of mature spermatids with few attached to Sertoli cells, and few mature spermatids were present in the lumen of seminiferous tubules of the control birds
In the present study, we investigated the effects of NDV infection on the expression of pattern recognition receptors (PRRs), innate immune genes, enzymes involved in steroidogenesis, reproduction hormones levels, and histopathology of testes in specific pathogen free (SPF) roosters
Summary
Newcastle disease (ND) is caused by Avian orthoavulavirus 1 (AOAV 1) (formerly designated as Avian avulavirus 1 (AAvV-1)), commonly known as Avian paramyxovirus 1 (APMV-1), or Newcastle disease virus (NDV), and is a leading cause of economic losses to the poultry industry worldwide [1, 2]. APMV-1 belongs to the genus Avulavirus in the family Paramyxoviridae and order Mononegavirales, which encompasses a diverse group of non-segmented, single‐stranded, and negative‐sense. Based on the clinical manifestations, NDV is divided into four pathotypes, which are listed as follows in increasing order of virulence: asymptomatic enteric, lentogenic, mesogenic, and velogenic [5, 6]. Velogenic strains of NDV can be further divided into viscerotropic and neurotropic strains.
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