Abstract
In the present study, inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) was experimentally induced by oral inoculation of two groups of specific pathogen-free (SPF) broilers and two groups of SPF layers at day-old with either a fowl aviadenovirus (FAdV)-D or a FAdV-E strain. A substantial variation in the degree of susceptibility was observed with mortalities of 100 and 96% in the FAdV-E and D infected SPF broiler groups, respectively, whereas in the groups of infected SPF layers mortalities of only 20 and 8% were noticed. Significant changes in clinical chemistry analytes of all infected birds together with histopathological lesions indicated impairment of liver and pancreas integrity and functions. Furthermore, significantly lower blood glucose concentrations were recorded at peak of infection in both inoculated SPF broiler groups, in comparison to the control group, corresponding to a hypoglycaemic status. High viral loads were determined in liver and pancreas of SPF broilers already at 4 days post-infection (dpi), in comparison to SPF layers, indicating a somewhat faster viral replication in the target organs. Overall, highest values were noticed in the pancreas of SPF broilers independent of the virus used for infection. The actual study provides new insights into the pathogenesis of IBH, a disease evolving to a metabolic disorder, to which SPF broilers were highly susceptible. Hence, this is the first study to report a significant higher susceptibility of SPF broiler chickens to experimentally induced IBH in direct comparison to SPF layers.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13567-016-0350-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.
Highlights
Fowl aviadenoviruses (FAdVs) belong to the genus Aviadenovirus within the family Adenoviridae, being further divided into five species designated fowl aviadenovirus (FAdV)-A to E [1]
The viral load in pancreas of Discussion In a recent study we used five FAdV field strains belonging to species FAdV-D and E to orally inoculate separate groups of day-old specific pathogen-free (SPF) white leghorn chickens and a panel of biomarkers based on clinical chemistry was established, which correlated with the pathogenicity of FAdV strains and the pathogenesis of inclusion body hepatitis (IBH) [9]
It was shown that pathogenic FAdV strains are capable to interfere with enzyme systems and metabolites concentration which are related to liver and pancreas functions
Summary
Fowl aviadenoviruses (FAdVs) belong to the genus Aviadenovirus within the family Adenoviridae, being further divided into five species designated FAdV-A to E [1]. Throughout the years, many reports established a causality between strains from species FAdV-A, FAdV-C and FAdV-D together with FAdV-E with specific diseases in chickens, such as adenoviral gizzard erosion (AGE), hydropericardium hepatitis syndrome (HHS) and inclusion body hepatitis (IBH), respectively [2]. In a recent study we were able to demonstrate the influence of virulent FAdV-D and E field strains on different enzyme systems and metabolite concentrations in the plasma of orally inoculated day-old SPF layer chickens due to the infection of liver and pancreas as target organs [9]. Matos et al Vet Res (2016) 47:69 was to characterize and compare the susceptibility of SPF broiler and SPF layer chickens to experimentally induced IBH by FAdV-D and E field strains
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