Cellular response in young lambs infected with Teladorsagia circumcincta

Abstract

A global concern worldwide that shares small ruminant breeders is the negative impact of gastrointestinal nematodes in sheep. In addition, the emergence of anthelmintic resistance has led to an in-depth search for alternative or complementary strategies, including genetic selection of worm-resistant animals. One of the main constraints in this method is that young lambs are not able to cope with worms, at least in most of the commercial breeds of sheep. Preliminary data suggested that Canarian Hair Breed (CHB) is more resistant than Canaria Sheep (CS) lambs, although at three months old, there were no significant differences between breeds in the parasitological data studied. The objective of this work was compared the local cellular response of CHB lambs of 3 and 6 months old lambs. Higher cellular counts at the abomasal wall of MHC-II+, CD4+, CD8+ and γδ+ T cells were observed in 6-month-old resistant CHB sheep compared to 3-month-old CHB lambs. After a series of oral inoculations with a strain of Teladorsagia circumcincta the data suggested that the younger lambs were less immune-stimulated than the older group of animals. These results may be useful to identify markers of resistance and find new therapeutic strategies.