Feline infectious peritonitis: viral antigen distribution associated to neuron system cells label

• Grant number: 21/02650-9
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: June 01, 2021
• End date: November 30, 2022
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Preventive Veterinary Medicine
• Principal Investigator: Tereza Cristina Cardoso da Silva
• Grantee: Letícia Colin Panegossi
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária (FMVA). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Araçatuba. Araçatuba , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Since its first description in 1963, the pathogenesis of feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) caused by the mutant form of feline coronavirus (FCoV) has not been fully clarified. FIP is an immune-mediated, progressive, and invariably fatal disease, of great relevance in the feline clinic, and which represents one of the most common causes of neurological signs in this species. The bimodal distribution of age, genetics, and environments with high animal density favor the transmission of the infectious agent, mainly through the oro-fecal route. The disease manifests itself mainly in two forms: non-effusive, characterized by granulomatous lesions, and effusive, identified by cavitary effusions. Ante-mortem diagnosis is difficult, as clinical signs are nonspecific depending on the course of the infection. Thus, the gold standard diagnosis is made post-mortem, through histopathology and immunohistochemistry, which in the present study will be performed in order to correlate the viral antigen marking and the expression of neuronal markers (for function and morphology) with anatomopathological lesions found in the central nervous system (CNS) samples of 15 cats that died with a clinical diagnosis of FIP. (AU)