The expression of Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO) is reduced in granulomas from BCG vaccinated cattle compared to granulomas from unvaccinated controls after experimental challenge with Mycobacterium bovis.

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB), mainly caused by Mycobacterium bovis (M. bovis), is a major economic disease of livestock worldwide. Vaccination is considered as a potentially sustainable adjunct to the current control strategy. Cattle vaccination with the live attenuated M. bovis bacillus Calmette-Guerin (BCG) confers variable protection; the reasons for this variability are not understood. Indoleamine 2, 3-dioxygenase (IDO), through the catalysis of tryptophan, is thought to have an immunoregulatory role in the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M. tuberculosis). In this work, we used immunohistochemistry and digital image analysis to evaluate the presence of IDO in granulomas at different stages of development in cattle that had been BCG-vaccinated or not and then challenged with M. bovis. Our results show that the expression of IDO in granulomas from non-vaccinated M. bovis challenged animals is higher than in granulomas from BCG-vaccinated M. bovis challenged animals. Thus, it is possible that vaccination with BCG prevents the induction of what are thought to be host immunosuppressive pathways by M. bovis, which contribute to pathology during the disease.

[Response of glutamic oxaloacetic transaminase, lactate dehydrogenase and aldolase in serum of cattle after transportation stress]. / Das Verhalten der Enzyme Glutaminsäure-Oxalessigsäure-Transaminase, Laktatdehydrogenase und Aldolase im Blutserum von Rindern nach Transportbelastung

The response to transport stress of serum GOT, LDH, and ALD was studied in 35 heads of cattle, aged 18 months to 20 years. The influence of different factors upon serum enzyme behaviour in cattle after exposure to transport stress was tested by means of mathematico-statistical methods. The following conclusions were drawn: 1. Transport stress on cattle was followed by rise in GOT, LDH, and ALD activities in serum. 2. The strongest rise was recorded from ALD activity and the smallest from LDH. 3. All three serum enzymes continued to rise up to the time of slaughter (20 to 50 hours after transport). 4. The enzyme activities recorded from blood after slaughter did not differ significantly from those in venous blood. 5. Intensity of ALD activity rise was found to depend on the transport distance (if it was more than 20 km), age of animal, and ambient temperature. 6. The rise in GOT activity was found to depend only on the given ambient temperature. 7. The behaviour of LDH activity did not reveal any secured relationship with any of the examined factors (transport distance, age keeping, and tuberculosis state or ambient temperature).