Introduction: Coronaviruses cause widespread disease in man and animals. Feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) is a lethal systemic granulomatous disease in cats worldwide that is caused by FIP virus (FIPV). There is no study focusing on investigations of ‘A disintegrin and metalloprotease with thrombospondin type I repeats-13’ (ADAMTS-13) expression and oxidative stress-related neuropathology in FIPV infection. The aim of this study was to identify the cytotoxic effects of oxidative stress and ADAMTS-13, glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-neurofilament (NF) expression and to identify whether they have any correlation with FIP neuropathology.
Materials and Methods: Expression levels of ADAMTS-13, 8-hydroxy-2’-deoxyguanosine (8- OHdG), GFAP and NF in FIPV-infected brain tissues from cats (n = 13) were evaluated immunohistochemically.
Results: Levels of ADAMTS-13 (P <0.001), 8-OHdG (P <0.001), GFAP (P <0.001) and NF (P <0.001) expression increased in FIPV-infected cats versus healthy controls.
Conclusions: ADAMTS-13 and GFAP increased significantly and this may play an important role in the protection and regulation of the blood–brain barrier integrity and central nervous system (CNS) microenvironment in this disease. Furthermore, expression of NF and ADAMTS-13 might give an idea of the progress and be useful for diagnosis of this disease. The results also suggest that FIPV-mediated oxidative stress might play a pivotal role in the immunopathogenesis of neurological FIP.