Measure of anti-apoptotic and apoptotic factors related to infection of monocytes with CDV

• Grant number: 11/13507-0
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2011
• End date: October 31, 2013
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Tereza Cristina Cardoso da Silva
• Grantee: Natielle Rodrigues Wajima
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil
• Associated scholarship(s): 12/21356-5 - Phylogenetic characterization of canine distemper virus isolates from naturally infected dogs in Brazil, BE.EP.IC

Abstract

Canine Distemper Virus (CDV) may induce multifocal demyelination in the central nervous system of infected dogs. The present work investigated apoptosis in white and gray matter (granular layer) in the cerebellum of naturally infected dogs by the analysis of the expression of the pro-apoptotic antigens caspase - 2 and - 3, b(terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick end labeling (TUNEL-staining) positivity, annexin-Vimmunodetection, and the presence of the anti-apoptotic antigens, BCl-2 and p53. Cerebellum specimens were obtained from the Laboratory of Animal Pathology, from 1995 to 2009, and the 5-¼m thick fragments were stained both with hematoxylin-eosin and Shorr. All samples were diagnosed as positive for CDV genome by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction targeting the nucleocapsid gene. The anti-apoptotic pathways evidenced in this study wereBCl-2 and p53 proteins that were intensively detected in the cerebellum of CDV-positive slides (40-80% of labeled cells/mm2). In addition, the apoptosis markers annexin-V and TUNEL are directly correlated among the same samples (80 and 40% of labeled cells, respectively). This is the first description of p53 and annexin-V expression, characterized as anti-apoptotic and apoptotic proteins, involvement in canine natural cases of CDV infections.(AU)