Differential house finch leukocyte profiles during experimental infection with Mycoplasma gallisepticum isolates of varying virulence.

Differential house finch leukocyte profiles during experimental infection with Mycoplasma gallisepticum isolates of varying virulence. Avian Pathol. 2020 Apr 09;:1-40 Authors: Bale NM, Leon AE, Hawley DM Abstract Leukocyte differentials are a useful tool for assessing systemic immunological changes during pathogen infections, particularly for non-model species. To date, no study has explored how experimental infection with a common bacterial pathogen, Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), influences the course and strength of hematological changes in the natural songbird host, house finches. Here we experimentally inoculated house finches with MG isolates known to vary in virulence and quantified the proportions of circulating leukocytes over the entirety of infection. First, we found significant temporal effects of MG infection on the proportions of most cell types, with strong increases in heterophil and monocyte proportions during infection. Marked decreases in lymphocyte proportions also occurred during infection, though these proportional changes may simply be driven by correlated increases in other leukocytes. Second, we found significant effects of isolate virulence, with the strongest changes in cell proportions occurring in birds inoculated with the higher virulence isolates, and almost no detectable changes relative to sham treatment groups in birds inoculated with the lowest virulence isolate. Finally, we found that variation in ...
Source: Avian Pathology - Category: Pathology Authors: Tags: Avian Pathol Source Type: research