Bovine Respiratory Syncytial Virus (BRSV) Infection Detected in Exhaled Breath Condensate of Dairy Calves by Near-Infrared Aquaphotomics

Abstract

Bovine respiratory syncytial virus (BRSV) is a major contributor to respiratory disease in cattle worldwide. Traditionally, BRSV infection is detected based on non-specific clinical signs, followed by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), the results of which can take days to obtain. Near-infrared aquaphotomics evaluation based on biochemical information from biofluids has the potential to support the rapid identification of BRSV infection in the field. This study evaluated NIR spectra (n = 240) of exhaled breath condensate (EBC) from dairy calves (n = 5) undergoing a controlled infection with BRSV. Changes in the organization of the aqueous phase of EBC during the baseline (pre-infection) and infected (post-infection and clinically abnormal) stages were found in the WAMACS (water matrix coordinates) C1, C5, C9, and C11, likely associated with volatile and non-volatile compounds in EBC. The discrimination of these chemical profiles by PCA-LDA models differentiated samples collected during the baseline and infected stages with an accuracy, sensitivity, and specificity >93% in both the calibration and validation. Thus, biochemical changes occurring during BRSV infection can be detected and evaluated with NIR-aquaphotomics in EBC. These findings form the foundation for developing an innovative, non-invasive, and in-field diagnostic tool to identify BRSV infection in cattle.

NMR-based metabolomics of plasma from dairy calves infected with two primary causal agents of bovine respiratory disease (BRD)

“…A suite of clinical data was collected for 27 days during the bacterial challenge and for 34 days during the viral challenge in order to follow progression of asymptomatic, mild and severe degrees of disease following experimental challenge 15 – 17 , 21 . An example of the data collection sheet is provided in the Supplementary material (Supplementary Figure S1 ) and includes visual and clinical data such as the rectal temperature, heart and respiratory rate, presence or absence of depressed attitude, appetite for food, spontaneous or induced cough, nasal discharge, ocular discharge, submandibular lymphadenopathy, difficult breathing (dyspnea), and abnormal lung sounds (crackles, wheezes, or large airway sounds) 35 .…”

“…Thus, alternative methods to VCD are needed to detect BRD before its manifestation, which will enable farmers to respond with the proper prophylactic measures 19 . One such example of is the use of Near Infrared Spectroscopy (NIRS), which is a novel approach that may facilitate diagnosis of BRD at earlier time points and in mild or asymptomatic cases by detecting changes in a suite of biomarkers resulting from metabolic changes in response to disease state 15 , 19 – 21 . A comprehensive phenotypic assessment for biomarkers of BRD using a specific “omics” platform would need to be obtained from blood plasma or other biofluids.…”

Aquaphotomics monitoring of strawberry fruit during cold storage – A comparison of two cooling systems

“…This research aimed to utilize aquaphotomic NIRS for monitoring during cold storage and better understanding of the mechanisms for maintaining freshness, choosing the strawberry fruit as a fruit-model system. The combination of NIRS and aquaphotomics has been already used to monitor aqueous and biological systems non-invasively for various purposes, such as evaluation of fresh and processed fruits and vegetables quality (36)(37)(38)(39)(40)(41)(42), milk quality (43,44), viral infections in plants, bacterial cultures (45,46) and fermentation (47)(48)(49), and physiological monitoring and diagnostics in higher organisms (50)(51)(52)(53)(54)(55). The second aim of the investigation was to compare the effects of different cooling technologies on the preservation of strawberries.…”

Aquaphotomics—Exploring Water Molecular Systems in Nature

“…Out of the 21 published articles, 3 were reviews [ 2 , 3 , 4 ] and 18 were original research papers [ 5 , 6 , 7 , 8 , 9 , 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 , 17 , 18 , 19 , 20 , 21 , 22 ], that can be roughly separated into 6 categories ( Figure 3 ).…”

“…This is exactly something that can be said about the category of material science [ 7 , 16 ], a relatively new area where aquaphotomics is slowly starting to make progress. The last two categories, cell biology [ 3 , 20 ] and diagnostics and therapy [ 11 , 19 ], do not feature many research papers because of the difficulty of conducting research with living systems. However, these two categories, and perhaps life science in general, still represent an important direction of growth that holds the strongest potential for making an impact and lasting change in our world, by transforming the current practices and offering non-destructive, real-time monitoring and early diagnostics that hopefully one day will be replaced with prevention.…”