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. 1988 Mar 1;29(1):1–8. doi: 10.1186/BF03548385

Failure to Induce Mucosal Disease in Cattle Persistently Infected with Bovine Viral Diarrhea Virus by Treatment with Adrenocorticotropic Hormone

Försök att framkalla mucosal disease hos nötkreatur persistent infekterade med bovint virusdiarré virus genom injektioner med adrenocorticotropt hormon

B Larsson 1,✉
PMCID: PMC8152542  PMID: 2849293

Abstract

Recent research has shown that cattle that develop mucosal disease (MD) often, if not always, have been persistently infected with bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) since birth. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether MD could be induced by immunosuppression of persistently BVDV-infected cattle. For that purpose, adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH) was injected intramuscularly, twice daily for 5 consecutive days in 4 persistently BVDV-infected cattle and in 3 control cattle. Before the ACTH treatment, the numbers of leukocytes, neutrophils and mononuclear cells (MNC) per litre of blood in BVDV-infected cattle were in the same range as in the controls. Similarly, the proportions of B cells, T cells, monocytes and Fcγ+ cells (cells with receptor for the Fc part of IgG) were the same in the 2 groups of animals. On the other hand, the proliferative response to mitogen stimulation of MNC obtained from the control animals was twice as high as the corresponding value of the persistently BVDV-infected cattle.

In all animals, ACTH treatment caused increased Cortisol concentrations, leukocytosis, neutrophilia and decreased mitogen-induced lymphocyte stimulation. However, the MNC count and the proportions of B cells, T cells, Fcγ+ cells and monocytes remained unaltered. In spite of the immunosuppression, indicated by the decrease in mitogen-induced lymphocyte stimulation. ACTH treatment did not provoke any clinical signs of MD in the persistently BVDV-infected cattle.

Keywords: persistent BVDV infection, ACTH, mononuclear cell subpopulations, lymphocyte stimulation.

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Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Dr. C. Fossum, Prof. S.-O. Jacobsson and Dr. S. Alenius for stimulating discussions and for helpful criticism. This work was supported by grants from the Swedish Council for Forestry and Agricultural Research.

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