Abstract
Bluetongue is a vector borne, non-contagious, viral disease of ruminants affecting many species of ruminants including cattle, buffalo, sheep, goats, deer, antelope and camel etc. BTV replication and lesions were reported in tissues and organs including skin, lymph nodes, spleen, bone marrow, liver, heart etc. BTV induced lesions have also been observed in the kidney of sheep that include petechiae, subcapsular haemorrhages, and renal tubular necrosis. However, the effect of BTV-1 in the kidney of pregnant sheep remains elusive as pathogenesis of the BTV varied with the serotype and species of the animals. The goal of the present study was to study BTV-1 induced pathological changes in the kidney and viral RNA quantification in pregnant sheep those experimentally infected during early pregnancy. For this, kidney from the sacrificed animals were collected in 10% neutral buffered formalin and RNA later. The presence of the Viral RNA and viral antigen in the ovine kidney and other organs samples was investigated at different day post infection. Histopathological examination of kidneys revealed hypercellularity of mesangial cells, degeneration of renal tubules, casts and multifocal infiltration of lymphocytes and changes were more pronounced at 15th dpi. None of the kidney tissue from infected sheep revealed the BTV antigen using immunohistochemistry. Thus, we concluded that experimental infection of sheep with BTV during early pregnancy induces pathological changes in the kidneys and also leads to moderate viral load in different organs. Further, BTV serotype 1 is unlikely to contribute directly in the renal pathology of pregnant sheep.
Published Version
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