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ARS Home » Southeast Area » Fayetteville, Arkansas » Poultry Production and Product Safety Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #133981

Title: MODULATION OF PHAGOCYTE FUNCTION BY OVOTRANSFERRIN, A CHICKEN ACUTE PHASE PROTEIN

Author
item Rath, Narayan
item XIE, HANG - UNIVERSITY OF ARKANSAS
item Huff, William
item Huff, Geraldine
item Balog, Janice

Submitted to: Western Poultry Disease Conference
Publication Type: Proceedings
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/1/2003
Publication Date: 5/4/2003
Citation: RATH, N.C., XIE, H., HUFF, W.E., HUFF, G.R., BALOG, J.M. MODULATION OF PHAGOCYTE FUNCTION BY OVOTRANSFERRIN, A CHICKEN ACUTE PHASE PROTEIN. WESTERN POULTRY DISEASE CONFERENCE. 2003. P. 322.

Interpretive Summary: Acute phase proteins are plasma proteins, the blood concentrations of which are elevated during infection and inflammation. Ovotransferrin is an acute phase protein in poultry. To understand the how ovotransferrin may affect immunity we treated two types of cells involved in defensive mechanisms and studied how these cells respond.These cells called macrophage cell HD11 and heterophils showed stimulation of their functions which cause these cells to defend against infections and bacteria. These results suggest that ovotransferrin can alter defensive functions in chickens.

Technical Abstract: Ovotransferrin (OTF) is an acute phase protein in chickens the serum levels of which is elevated in response to inflammation and infections. To understand whether OTF may influence inflammation through its immunomodulatory effects, we studied its in vitro effects on chicken macrophage-like HD11 cells and heterophils isolated from peripheral blood. The results showed that OTF stimulates production of interleukin-6, nitrite, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) by HD 11 cells, augments PMA induced dichlorofluorescein diacetate(DCF-DA) oxidation, an indicator of reactive oxygen production. In heterophils, OTF induced IL-6 production but no nitrite production. Both MMP production and the oxidation of DCF-DA by the heterophils were increased by OTF alone. OTF also caused degranulation of heterophils illustrated by the disappearance of fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) stained cytoplasmic granules. The effective concentration of OTF to generate a response was 100 µg/ml or above. These results suggest OTF may have immunomodulatory effects on macrophage and heterophils and may have homeostatic function during acute phase response.