Poly I: C Alleviated Duck Intestinal Injury Infected with Duck Viral Enteritis by Inhibiting Apoptosis.

ABSTRACT

Duck enteritis virus (DEV) may lead to vascular injury, gastrointestinal mucosal erosion, lymphoid organ injury, and Polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (Poly IC) has an antiviral effect by inducing low levels of interferon. The purpose of this study was to explore the pathogenesis of DEV-induced intestinal injury in ducks and to verify the therapeutic effects of different concentrations of Poly IC. In this study, duck enteritis model was established by infecting healthy Pekin ducks with DEV. Duck intestinal tissues were extracted from normal control group, model group, and treatment group with different doses of Poly IC. In vivo, HE and TUNEL staining were used to observe the morphological changes and apoptosis. In vitro, the proliferation and apoptosis of duck intestinal epithelial cells were evaluated by MTT assay, TUNEL staining, and flow cytometry. The results showed that Poly IC protected ducks from DEV toxicity by improving intestinal morphology and inhibiting apoptosis. In addition, the antiviral effect of Poly IC on DEV was found in a dose-dependent manner, with a more relatively obvious effect at a high dose of Poly IC. All in all, these results demonstrated that Poly IC played a vital role in the apoptosis induced by DEV in ducks and modest dose of Poly IC treatment worked well and may provide important reference for the development of new antiviral drugs in the future.