Expression of apoptosis-related genes at different stages of BoHV-1 and 5 infection of bovine neural tissue

LUCIA MARTÍNEZ CUESTA; MARIA VICTORIA NIETO FARÍAS; FLORENCIA ROMEO; ANDREA VERNA; SANDRA PEREZ

COMPARATIVE IMMUNOLOGY MICROBIOLOGY AND INFECTIOUS DISEASES

ELSEVIER SCI LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2022

0147-9571

Bovine alphaherpesviruses (BoHV) 1 and 5 share many genetic and structural characteristics; however, theydiffer in their ability to cause encephalitis. Previous research suggests that this difference might be caused by adifferential modulation of apoptosis. In this study, we analyzed the mRNA expression of Bax, Bcl-2, Fas andcaspases 3 and 8 in neural tissue sections of BoHV-1 and BoHV-5 experimentally-infected cattle. Overall, Fas andcaspase 3 mRNA was up-regulated during BoHV-5 acute infection, latency, and reactivation. Conversely, caspase3 mRNA levels increased only in the olfactory cortex during BoHV-1 acute infection, and it was down-regulatedduring reactivation, while Fas was only up-regulated during BoHV-1 acute infection and latency. Moreover, Bax/Bcl-2 ratio was lower than 1 during BoHV-1 acute infection except in the trigeminal ganglion, whereas manybrain regions exhibit a ratio higher than 1 during BoHV-5 acute infection and reactivation. In summary, ourfindings suggest that during acute infection and reactivation, BoHV-5 induces a pro-apoptotic condition thatcould partially justify its increased ability to cause neurological damage.