The interactions between gastric microbiota, ovine host, and Haemonchus contortus portray the ovine gastric environment as a complex ecosystem, where all factors play a pertinent role in fine-tuning each other and in haemeostasis. We delineated the impact of early and late Haemonchus infection on abomasal and ruminal microbial community, as well as the ovine host. Twelve, parasite-naive lambs were divided into four groups, 7 days post-infection (dpi) and time-matched uninfected-control groups; 50 dpi and time-matched uninfected control groups were used for the experiment. Six sheep were inoculated with 5000 H. contortus infective larvae and followed for 7 or 50 days with their corresponding uninfected-control ones. Ovine abomasal tissues were collected for histological analysis and gastric fluids were collected for PH value measurements, microbial community isolation and Illumina MiSeq platform and bioinformatic analysis. Our results showed that Haemonchus infection increased the abomasal gastric pH (P = 0.05) and resulted in necrotizing and inflammatory changes that were more severe during acute infection. Furthermore, infection increased the abomasal bacterial load and decreased the ruminal microbiome. A 7-day infection of sheep with H. contortus significantly altered approximately 98% and 94% of genera in the abomasal and ruminal bacterial profile, respectively (P = 0.04-0.05). However, the approximate altered genera 50 days after infection in the ovine abomasal and ruminal microbiome were about 62% and 69%, correspondingly (P = 0.04-0.05) with increase in some bacteria and decrease in others. Overall, these results indicate that Haemonchus infection plays a crucial role in shaping stomach microbial community composition, and diversity.

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Oxidative stress (OS) plays an essential role in the pathogenesis of common neurodegenerative diseases. We have previously shown that Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) induces high nitric oxide (NO) production, glial activation, and apoptosis that altogether cause severe neuropathology in toxoplasma encephalitis (TE). The objective of this study was to investigate the cytotoxic effect of OS and to identify a correlation between the causes of T. gondii induced neuropathology. Expression levels of glutathione reductase (GR), Cu/Zn superoxide dismutase (SOD1), neuron specific enolase (NSE), and 8-hydroxy-2'-deoxyguanosine (8-OHdG) were investigated. Results of the study revealed that the levels of GR (P <0.005) and NSE (P <0.001) expression in the brain tissue markedly increased while SOD1 activity decreased (P <0.001) in the infected group compared to the non-infected group. In addition, intense staining for 8-OHdG (P <0.05) was observed both in the nucleus and the cytoplasm of neurons and glial cells that underwent OS. These results were reasonable to suggest that T. gondii-mediated OS might play a pivotal role and a different type of role in the mechanism of neurodegeneration/neuropathology in the process of TE. The results also clearly indicated that increased levels of NO and apoptosis might contribute to OS-related pathogenesis of TE. As a result, OS and expression of NSE might give an idea of the disease progress and may have a critical diagnostic significance for patients with T. gondii infection.

Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a protozoan parasite with the potential of causing severe encephalitis among immunocompromised humans and animals. Our previous study showed that T. gondii induces high nitric oxide (NO) production, high glial activation (GFAP) and neurofilament expressions, leading to severe neurodegeneration in toxoplasma encephalitis (TE) in the central nervous system (CNS). The aim of this experimental study was to investigate ADAMTS-13 expression and apoptosis in CNS and to identify whether they have any correlation with toxoplasmosis neuropathology and neurodegeneration. Mice were infected with ME49 strain T. gondii and the levels of ADAMTS-13, caspase 3, caspase 8, caspase 9, TNFR1 and Bcl-xL expressions were examined in brain tissues by immunohistochemistry, during the development and establishment of chronic infections at 10, 30 and 60 days post-infection. Results of the study revealed that the levels of ADAMTS-13 (P < 0.005), caspase 3 (P < 0.05), caspase 8 (P < 0.05), caspase 9 (P < 0.005) and TNFR1 (P < 0.05) expressions in the brain markedly increased while Bcl-xL expression decreased (P < 0.005). The most prominent finding from our study was that 10, 30 and 60 days post-infection ADAMTS-13 increased significantly and this may play an important role in the regulation and protection of the blood-brain barrier integrity and CNS microenvironment in TE. These results also suggest that T. gondii-mediated apoptosis might play a pivotal role and a different type of role in the mechanism of neurodegeneration and neuropathology in the process of TE. Furthermore, expression of ADAMTS-13 might give an idea of the progress and is critical for diagnosis of this disease. To the best of the authors' knowledge, this is the first report on ADAMTS-13 expression in the CNS of T. gondii-infected mice.

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Papillomatosis is widespread in cattle and is often observed on the skin of udders. For treatment, anthelmintic, immunomodulator and homeopathic drugs are administered. The objective of the study was to examine the therapeutic effect of levamisole and tarantula cubensis extract in the treatment of papilloma observed in the teats of cows. Sixteen Holstein cows between the age of 2-3 years were used as study material. The cows with Papillomatosis were randomly assigned into two equal groups. The animals in the first group (n=8) were treated with intramuscular double doses of levamisole (5 mg/kg) applied one week apart. The second group of animals (n=8) was treated with two subcutaneous doses of 10 ml of Tarantula cubensis extract one week apart. Four animals in the first group recovered while 8 animals in the second group recovered. The total serum oxidant levels of the animals treated with Tarantula cubensis extract and levamisole on the 15th day was found to be significantly lower than the serum levels of same animals on day 0 of the treatment (P<0.05). The results of this study revealed that tarantula cubensis extract applied in normal therapeutic doses was more effective in the treatment of teat papillomatosis than levamisole.

Border Disease (BD), caused by Pestivirus from the family Flaviviridae, leads to serious reproductive losses and brain anomalies such as hydranencephaly and cerebellar hypoplasia in aborted fetuses and neonatal lambs. In this report it is aimed to investigate the expression of neuronal nitric oxide synthase (nNOS), A Disintegrin And Metalloprotease with Thrombospondin type I repeats-13 (ADAMTS-13), and neurofilament (NF) in the brain tissue in small ruminants infected with Border Disease Virus (BDV) and to identify any correlation between hypomyelinogenesis and BD neuropathology. Results of the study revealed that the levels of ADAMTS-13 (p<0.05), nNOS (p<0.05), and NF (p<0.05) were remarkably higher in BDV-infected brain tissue than in the uninfected control. It was suggested that L-arginine-NO synthase pathway is activated after infection by BDV and that the expression of NF and nNOS is associated with the severity of BD. A few studies have focused on ADAMTS-13 expression in the central nervous system, and its function continues to remain unclear. The most prominent finding from our study was that ADAMTS-13, which contain two CUB domains, has two CUB domains and its high expression levels are probably associated with the development of the central nervous system (CNS). The results also clearly indicate that the interaction of ADAMTS-13 and NO may play an important role in the regulation and protection of the CNS microenvironment in neurodegenerative diseases. In addition, NF expression might indicate the progress of the disease. To the best of the authors’knowledge, this is the first report on ADAMTS-13 expression in the CNS of BDV-infected small ruminants.

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