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Updated: May 1, 2026
An Ex Vivo Chicken Primary Bursal-cell Culture Model to Study Infectious Bursal Disease Virus Pathogenesis
Published on: October 4, 2018
Dietary L-arginine modulates immunosuppression in broilers inoculated with an intermediate strain of infectious bursa
Jian-Zhuang Tan1, Yu-Ming Guo, Todd J Applegate
1State Key Lab of Animal Nutrition, College of Animal Science and Technology, China Agricultural University, Beijing, 100193, People's Republic of China.
Background:
The effects of dietary l-arginine (Arg) on immunosuppression following infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV) inoculation in broiler chickens were evaluated. The design of this study was a 5 × 2 factorial arrangement (n = 5) with five Arg concentrations (starter: 9.9, 13.9, 17.6, 21.3 and 25.3 g kg(-1) ; grower-finisher: 9.5, 13.5, 17.1, 20.1 and 23.6 g kg(-1) ) with or without IBDV inoculation (IBDV or saline inoculation at 14 days). Chickens were sampled at 2, 4 and 6 days post-inoculation (DPI) and 42 days of age.
Results:
The IBDV inoculation decreased (P = 0.05) CD3(+) , CD4(+) , and CD8(+) T cell counts at 2 days post-inoculation (DPI) and monocyte counts at 6 DPI; and reduced (P < 0.05) bursal interleukin-1β (IL-1β) mRNA expression at 2 DPI and serum IL-6 concentration at 4 DPI. Increasing Arg concentration increased (P < 0.05) CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cell counts at 2 DPI, linearly increased (P = 0.05) CD3(+) T cell counts in IBDV-inoculated groups and monocyte counts in control groups at 4 DPI; increased (P < 0.05) serum IL-6 concentration in IBDV-inoculated groups at 2 DPI; and increased (P < 0.05) serum anti-IBDV antibody titres at 42 days of age.
Conclusion:
Varying concentrations of Arg supplementation attenuated IBDV inoculation induced immunosuppression via modulating circulating T cell sub-populations.
