Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T23:05:02.490Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Assessing immune competence in pigs by immunization with tetanus toxoid

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 May 2017

U. Gimsa*
Affiliation:
Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, D-18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
A. Tuchscherer
Affiliation:
Institute of Genetics and Biometry, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, D-18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
J. Gimsa
Affiliation:
Department of Biophysics, University of Rostock, D-18057 Rostock, Germany
M. Tuchscherer
Affiliation:
Institute of Behavioural Physiology, Leibniz Institute for Farm Animal Biology, D-18196 Dummerstorf, Germany
*
Get access

Abstract

Immune competence can be tested by challenging organisms with a set of infectious agents. However, disease control requirements impose restrictions on the infliction of infections upon domestic pigs. Alternatively, vaccinations induce detectable immune responses that reflect immune competence. Here, we tested this approach with tetanus toxoid (TT) in young domestic pigs. To optimize the vaccination protocol, we immunized the pigs with a commercial TT vaccine at the age of 21 or 35 days. Booster immunizations were performed either 14 or 21 days later. TT-specific antibodies in plasma as well as lymphoproliferative responses were determined both 7 and 14 days after booster immunization using ELISA and lymphocyte transformation tests, respectively. In addition, general IgG and IgM plasma concentrations and mitogen-induced proliferation were measured. The highest TT-specific antibody responses were detected when blood samples were collected 1 week after a booster immunization conducted 21 days after primary immunization. The pigs’ age at primary immunization did not have a significant influence on TT-specific antibody responses. Similarly, the TT-specific proliferative responses were highest when blood samples were collected 1 week after booster immunization, while age and time of primary and booster immunization were irrelevant in our setup. While general IgG and IgM plasma levels were highly age dependent, there were no significant age effects for TT-specific immune responses. In addition, mitogen-induced proliferation was independent of immunization as well as blood sampling protocols. In summary, our model of TT vaccination provides an interesting approach for the assessment of immune competence in young pigs. The detected vaccination effects were not biased by age, even though our data were acquired from immune systems that were under development during our tests.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© The Animal Consortium 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Adler, M, Murani, E, Brunner, R, Ponsuksili, S and Wimmers, K 2013a. Transcriptomic response of porcine PBMCs to vaccination with tetanus toxoid as a model antigen. PLoS One 8, e58306.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adler, M, Murani, E, Ponsuksili, S and Wimmers, K 2013b. PBMC transcription profiles of pigs with divergent humoral immune responses and lean growth performance. International Journal of Biological Sciences 9, 907916.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Adler, M, Murani, E, Ponsuksili, S and Wimmers, K 2015. PBMC transcriptomic responses to primary and secondary vaccination differ due to divergent lean growth and antibody titers in a pig model. Physiological Genomics 47, 470478.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahlberg, V, Lovgren, BK, Wallgren, P and Fossum, C 2012. Global transcriptional response to ISCOM-Matrix adjuvant at the site of administration and in the draining lymph node early after intramuscular injection in pigs. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 38, 1726.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blecha, F and Kelley, KW 1981. Effects of cold and weaning stressors on the antibody-mediated immune-response of pigs. Journal of Animal Science 53, 439447.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Butler, JE, Zhao, Y, Sinkora, M, Wertz, N and Kacskovics, I 2009. Immunoglobulins, antibody repertoire and B cell development. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 33, 321333.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Di Pasquale, A, Preiss, S, Tavares DaSilva, F and Garcon, N 2015. Vaccine adjuvants: from 1920 to 2015 and beyond. Vaccines (Basel) 3, 320343.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Domeika, K, Berg, M, Eloranta, ML and Alm, GV 2002. Porcine interleukin-12 fusion protein and interleukin-18 in combination induce interferon-gamma production in porcine natural killer and T cells. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 86, 1121.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
elGhazali, GE, Paulie, S, Andersson, G, Hansson, Y, Holmquist, G, Sun, JB, Olsson, T, Ekre, HP and Troye-Blomberg, M 1993. Number of interleukin-4- and interferon-gamma-secreting human T cells reactive with tetanus toxoid and the mycobacterial antigen PPD or phytohemagglutinin: distinct response profiles depending on the type of antigen used for activation. European Journal of Immunology 23, 27402745.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Frazer, JK and Capra, JD 1999. Immunoglobulins: structure and function. In Fundamental immunology (ed. WE Paul), pp 3774. Lippincott-Raven, Philadelphia, PA, USA.Google Scholar
Juul-Madsen, HR, Jensen, KH, Nielsen, J and Damgaard, BM 2010. Ontogeny and characterization of blood leukocyte subsets and serum proteins in piglets before and after weaning. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 133, 95108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanitz, E, Hameister, T, Tuchscherer, M, Tuchscherer, A and Puppe, B 2014. Social support attenuates the adverse consequences of social deprivation stress in domestic piglets. Hormones and Behavior 65, 203210.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kanitz, E, Puppe, B, Tuchscherer, M, Heberer, M, Viergutz, T and Tuchscherer, A 2009. A single exposure to social isolation in domestic piglets activates behavioural arousal, neuroendocrine stress hormones, and stress-related gene expression in the brain. Physiology & Behavior 98, 176185.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Klobasa, F, Werhahn, E and Butler, JE 1981. Regulation of humoral immunity in the piglet by immunoglobulins of maternal origin. Research in Veterinary Science 31, 195206.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Le Dividich, J, Rooke, JA and Herpin, P 2005. Nutritional and immunological importance of colostrum for the new-born pig. Journal of Agricultural Science 143, 469485.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Livingston, KA, Jiang, X and Stephensen, CB 2013. CD4 T-helper cell cytokine phenotypes and antibody response following tetanus toxoid booster immunization. Journal of Immunological Methods 390, 1829.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oster, M, Scheel, M, Murani, E, Ponsuksili, S, Zebunke, M, Puppe, B and Wimmers, K 2015. The fight-or-flight response is associated with PBMC expression profiles related to immune defence and recovery in swine. PLoS One 10, e0120153.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pedersen, AF, Zachariae, R and Bovbjerg, DH 2009. Psychological stress and antibody response to influenza vaccination: a meta-analysis. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 23, 427433.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ponsuksili, S, Murani, E and Wimmers, K 2008. Porcine genome-wide gene expression in response to tetanus toxoid vaccine. Developmental Biology (Basel) 132, 185195.Google ScholarPubMed
Powell, ND, Allen, RG, Hufnagle, AR, Sheridan, JF and Bailey, MT 2011. Stressor-induced alterations of adaptive immunity to vaccination and viral pathogens. Immunology and Allergy Clinics of North America 31, 6979.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Puppe, B, Tuchscherer, M and Tuchscherer, A 1997. The effect of housing conditions and social environment immediately after weaning on the agonistic behaviour, neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio, and plasma glucose level in pigs. Livestock Production Science 48, 157164.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robinson, K, Chamberlain, LM, Lopez, MC, Rush, CM, Marcotte, H, Le Page, RWF and Wells, JM 2004. Mucosal and cellular immune responses elicited by recombinant Lactococcus lactis strains expressing tetanus toxin fragment C. Infection and Immunity 72, 27532761.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Segerstrom, SC, Hardy, JK, Evans, DR and Greenberg, RN 2012. Vulnerability, distress, and immune response to vaccination in older adults. Brain, Behavior, and Immunity 26, 747753.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smith, RE, Donachie, AM, Grdic, D, Lycke, N and Mowat, AM 1999. Immune-stimulating complexes induce an IL-12-dependent cascade of innate immune responses. Journal of Immunology 162, 55365546.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuchscherer, M, Kanitz, E, Otten, W and Tuchscherer, A 2002. Effects of prenatal stress on cellular and humoral immune responses in neonatal pigs. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology 86, 195203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Tuchscherer, M, Kanitz, E, Puppe, B and Tuchscherer, A 2006. Early social isolation alters behavioral and physiological responses to an endotoxin challenge in piglets. Hormones and Behavior 50, 753761.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tuchscherer, M, Kanitz, E, Tuchscherer, A and Puppe, B 2016. Effects of social support on glucocorticoid sensitivity of lymphocytes in socially deprived piglets. Stress 19, 325332.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wendt, M and Bickhardt, K 2001. Tetanus. In Lehrbuch der Schweinekrankheiten (ed. KH Waldmann and M Wendt), pp 217218. Parey Verlag, Stuttgart.Google Scholar