Skip to main content

Lund University Publications

LUND UNIVERSITY LIBRARIES

A Comparative Study of the Innate Humoral Immune Response to Avian Influenza Virus in Wild and Domestic Mallards

van Dijk, Jacintha G.B. ; Verhagen, Josanne H. ; Hegemann, Arne LU ; Tolf, Conny ; Olofsson, Jenny ; Järhult, Josef D. and Waldenström, Jonas LU (2020) In Frontiers in Microbiology 11.
Abstract

Domestic mallards (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) are traditionally used as a model to investigate infection dynamics and immune responses to low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs) in free-living mallards. However, it is unclear whether the immune response of domestic birds reflects the response of their free-living counterparts naturally exposed to these viruses. We investigated the extent to which the innate humoral immune response was similar among (i) wild-type domestic mallards in primary and secondary infection with LPAIV H4N6 in a laboratory setting (laboratory mallards), (ii) wild-type domestic mallards naturally exposed to LPAIVs in a semi-natural setting (sentinel mallards), and (iii) free-living mallards naturally... (More)

Domestic mallards (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) are traditionally used as a model to investigate infection dynamics and immune responses to low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs) in free-living mallards. However, it is unclear whether the immune response of domestic birds reflects the response of their free-living counterparts naturally exposed to these viruses. We investigated the extent to which the innate humoral immune response was similar among (i) wild-type domestic mallards in primary and secondary infection with LPAIV H4N6 in a laboratory setting (laboratory mallards), (ii) wild-type domestic mallards naturally exposed to LPAIVs in a semi-natural setting (sentinel mallards), and (iii) free-living mallards naturally exposed to LPAIVs. We quantified innate humoral immune function by measuring non-specific natural antibodies (agglutination), complement activity (lysis), and the acute phase protein haptoglobin. We demonstrate that complement activity in the first 3 days after LPAIV exposure was higher in primary-exposed laboratory mallards than in sentinel and free-living mallards. LPAIV H4N6 likely activated the complement system and the acute phase response in primary-exposed laboratory mallards, as lysis was higher and haptoglobin lower at day 3 and 7 post-exposure compared to baseline immune function measured prior to exposure. There were no differences observed in natural antibody and haptoglobin concentrations among laboratory, sentinel, and free-living mallards in the first 3 days after LPAIV exposure. Our study demonstrates that, based on the three innate humoral immune parameters measured, domestic mallards seem an appropriate model to investigate innate immunology of their free-living counterparts, albeit the innate immune response of secondary-LPAIV exposed mallards is a better proxy for the innate immune response in pre-exposed free-living mallards than that of immunologically naïve mallards.

(Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Anas platyrhynchos, baseline immune function, complement, haptoglobin, infectious disease, innate humoral immunity, natural antibody, sentinel
in
Frontiers in Microbiology
volume
11
article number
608274
pages
13 pages
publisher
Frontiers Media S. A.
external identifiers
  • scopus:85097628173
ISSN
1664-302X
DOI
10.3389/fmicb.2020.608274
language
English
LU publication?
yes
additional info
Funding Information: We would like to express our gratitude to Sita van Hoorn, Tim van der Meer, Ulf Ottoson, and others from Ottenby Bird Observatory, who captured and sampled the sentinel and free-living mallards. Furthermore, we would like to thank Mahmoud Naguib, Susanne Bloemberg, Evelina Ed?n, and Lena ?berg for their help with conducting the laboratory experiment. We thank the reviewers for their constructive feedback. This is contribution 316 from Ottenby Bird Observatory. Funding. This research was funded by the Swedish Research Council (2015-03877). AH was supported by a grant from the Swedish Research Council (2018-04278). Funding Information: This research was funded by the Swedish Research Council (2015-03877). AH was supported by a grant from the Swedish Research Council (2018-04278). Publisher Copyright: © Copyright © 2020 van Dijk, Verhagen, Hegemann, Tolf, Olofsson, Järhult and Waldenström.
id
4d8e8289-27cb-4033-a12d-ea17513fbd87
date added to LUP
2022-02-07 17:12:59
date last changed
2024-05-02 06:43:13
@article{4d8e8289-27cb-4033-a12d-ea17513fbd87,
  abstract     = {{<p>Domestic mallards (Anas platyrhynchos domesticus) are traditionally used as a model to investigate infection dynamics and immune responses to low pathogenic avian influenza viruses (LPAIVs) in free-living mallards. However, it is unclear whether the immune response of domestic birds reflects the response of their free-living counterparts naturally exposed to these viruses. We investigated the extent to which the innate humoral immune response was similar among (i) wild-type domestic mallards in primary and secondary infection with LPAIV H4N6 in a laboratory setting (laboratory mallards), (ii) wild-type domestic mallards naturally exposed to LPAIVs in a semi-natural setting (sentinel mallards), and (iii) free-living mallards naturally exposed to LPAIVs. We quantified innate humoral immune function by measuring non-specific natural antibodies (agglutination), complement activity (lysis), and the acute phase protein haptoglobin. We demonstrate that complement activity in the first 3 days after LPAIV exposure was higher in primary-exposed laboratory mallards than in sentinel and free-living mallards. LPAIV H4N6 likely activated the complement system and the acute phase response in primary-exposed laboratory mallards, as lysis was higher and haptoglobin lower at day 3 and 7 post-exposure compared to baseline immune function measured prior to exposure. There were no differences observed in natural antibody and haptoglobin concentrations among laboratory, sentinel, and free-living mallards in the first 3 days after LPAIV exposure. Our study demonstrates that, based on the three innate humoral immune parameters measured, domestic mallards seem an appropriate model to investigate innate immunology of their free-living counterparts, albeit the innate immune response of secondary-LPAIV exposed mallards is a better proxy for the innate immune response in pre-exposed free-living mallards than that of immunologically naïve mallards.</p>}},
  author       = {{van Dijk, Jacintha G.B. and Verhagen, Josanne H. and Hegemann, Arne and Tolf, Conny and Olofsson, Jenny and Järhult, Josef D. and Waldenström, Jonas}},
  issn         = {{1664-302X}},
  keywords     = {{Anas platyrhynchos; baseline immune function; complement; haptoglobin; infectious disease; innate humoral immunity; natural antibody; sentinel}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{11}},
  publisher    = {{Frontiers Media S. A.}},
  series       = {{Frontiers in Microbiology}},
  title        = {{A Comparative Study of the Innate Humoral Immune Response to Avian Influenza Virus in Wild and Domestic Mallards}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2020.608274}},
  doi          = {{10.3389/fmicb.2020.608274}},
  volume       = {{11}},
  year         = {{2020}},
}