Endotoxin-induced cytokine, chemokine and white blood cell profiles of variable stress-responding sheep

Characterization of the Hepatic Transcriptome for Divergent Immune-Responding Sheep Following Natural Exposure to Gastrointestinal Nematodes

Infections with gastrointestinal nematodes (GINs) reduce the economic efficiency of sheep operations and compromise animal welfare. Understanding the host's response to GIN infection can help producers identify animals that are naturally resistant to infection. The objective of this study was to characterize the hepatic transcriptome of sheep that had been naturally exposed to GIN parasites. The hepatic transcriptome was studied using RNA-Sequencing technology in animals characterized as high (n = 5) or medium (n = 6) based on their innate immune acute-phase (AP) response phenotype compared with uninfected controls (n = 4), and with biased antibody-mediated (AbMR, n = 5) or cell-mediated (CMR, n = 5) adaptive immune responsiveness compared to uninfected controls (n = 3). Following the assessment of sheep selected for innate responses, 0, 136, and 167 genes were differentially expressed (DE) between high- and medium-responding animals, high-responding and uninfected control animals, and medium-responding and uninfected control animals, respectively (false discovery rate (FDR) < 0.05, and fold change |FC| > 2). When adaptive immune responses were assessed, 0, 53, and 57 genes were DE between antibody- and cell-biased animals, antibody-biased and uninfected control animals, and cell-biased and uninfected control animals, respectively (FDR < 0.05, |FC| > 2). Functional analyses identified enriched gene ontology (GO) terms and metabolic pathways related to the innate immune response and energy metabolism. Six functional candidate genes were identified for further functional and validation studies to better understand the underlying biological mechanisms of host responses to GINs. These, in turn, can potentially help improve decision making and management practices to increase the overall host immune response to GIN infection.

Common mechanisms underlying diabetic vascular complications: focus on the interaction of metabolic disorders, immuno-inflammation, and endothelial dysfunction

Diabetic vascular complications (DVCs), including macro- and micro- angiopathy, account for a high percentage of mortality in patients with diabetes mellitus (DM). Endothelial dysfunction is the initial and role step for the pathogenesis of DVCs. Hyperglycemia and lipid metabolism disorders contribute to endothelial dysfunction via direct injury of metabolism products, crosstalk between immunity and inflammation, as well as related interaction network. Although physiological and phenotypic differences support their specified changes in different targeted organs, there are still several common mechanisms underlying DVCs. Also, inhibitors of these common mechanisms may decrease the incidence of DVCs effectively. Thus, this review may provide new insights into the possible measures for the secondary prevention of DM. And we discussed the current limitations of those present preventive measures in DVCs research. Video Abstract.

Expression Profile of miRNA from High, Middle, and Low Stress-Responding Sheep during Bacterial Endotoxin Challenge

Animals respond to stress by activating a wide array of physiological and behavioral responses that are collectively referred to as the stress response. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, noncoding RNAs that play key roles in the regulation of homeostasis. There are many reports demonstrating examples of stress-induced miRNA expression profiles. The aim of this study was to determine the circulatory miRNA profile of variable stress-responding lambs (n = 112) categorized based on their cortisol levels as high (HSR, 336.2 ± 27.9 nmol/L), middle (MSR, 147.3 ±9.5 nmol/L), and low (LSR, 32.1 ± 10.4 nmol/L) stress responders post-LPS challenge (400 ng/kg iv). Blood was collected from the jugular vein at 0 (T0) and 4 h (T4) post-LPS challenge, and miRNAs were isolated from four animals from each group. An array of 84 miRNAs and 6 individual miRNAs were evaluated using qPCR. Among 90 miRNAs, there were 48 differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs (log fold change (FC) > 2 < log FC) in the HSR group, 46 in the MSR group, and 49 in the LSR group compared with T0 (control) samples. In the HSR group, three miRNAs, miR-485-5p, miR-1193-5p, and miR-3957-5p were significantly (p < 0.05) upregulated, while seven miRNAs, miR-376b-3p, miR-376c-3p, miR-411b-5p, miR-376a-3p, miR-376b-3p, miR-376c-3p, and miR-381-3p, were downregulated (p < 0.05) as compared to the LSR and MSR groups. Functional analysis of DE miRNAs revealed their roles in Ras and MAPK signaling, cytokine signaling, the adaptive immune system, and transcription pathways in the HSR phenotype, implicating a hyper-induced acute-phase response. In contrast, in the LSR group, enriched pathways included glucagon signaling metabolic regulation, the transportation of amino acids and ions, and the integration of energy metabolism. Taken together, these results indicate variation in the acute-phase response to an immune stress challenge, and these miRNAs are implicated in regulating responses within cortisol-based phenotypes.

Maternal COVID-19 Vaccination and Its Potential Impact on Fetal and Neonatal Development

Vaccines have been developed at "warp speed" to combat the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus. Although they are considered the best approach for preventing mortality, when assessing the safety of these vaccines, pregnant women have not been included in clinical trials. Thus, vaccine safety for this demographic, as well as for the developing fetus and neonate, remains to be determined. A global effort has been underway to encourage pregnant women to get vaccinated despite the uncertain risk posed to them and their offspring. Given this, post-hoc data collection, potentially for years, will be required to determine the outcomes of COVID-19 and vaccination on the next generation. Most COVID-19 vaccine reactions include injection site erythema, pain, swelling, fatigue, headache, fever and lymphadenopathy, which may be sufficient to affect fetal/neonatal development. In this review, we have explored components of the first-generation viral vector and mRNA COVID-19 vaccines that are believed to contribute to adverse reactions and which may negatively impact fetal and neonatal development. We have followed this with a discussion of the potential for using an ovine model to explore the long-term outcomes of COVID-19 vaccination during the prenatal and neonatal periods.