Neospora caninum and coxiella burnetii seropositivity are related to endocrine pattern changes during gestation in lactating dairy cows

Effects of crossbreeding on endocrine patterns determined in pregnant beef/dairy cows naturally infected with Neospora caninum

“…It is therefore likely that, in nonaborting cows, placental P4 secretion is reduced owing to the increased production of proinflammatory cytokines such as g-interferon to control the parasite [23,40]. On the contrary, García-Ispierto et al [12] showed that highly seropositive nonaborting animals showed a higher P4 concentration than seronegative or lowly seropositive cows. Although questionable, it is possible that the results of the latter study were affected by concurrent N caninum and Coxiella burnetii infection in the affected herds [12].…”

“…In cows, as in other mammals, maternalfetal communication at the placental barrier orchestrates interactions between pregnancy immune-modulator hormones, such as prolactin, pregnancy associated glycoprotein (PAG)-1 and -2, and progesterone (P4) [7][8][9][10], and the maternal immune system detectable in peripheral circulation [11]. However, any chronic disease such as Neospora caninum infection can disrupt the normal maternal immune-endocrine pattern [12][13][14].…”

“…Studies have shown that N caninum infection modifies endocrine patterns such as P4, cortisol, and more recently PAG-2 in chronically infected animals [10,12]. It has also been established that beef cows or cows with a crossbreed pregnancy, especially for a greater maternal-paternal genetic distance, show a reduced risk of abortion when naturally infected compared with pure-breed Holstein Friesian (HF) pregnancies [17][18][19][20][21].…”

Coxiella burnetii antibody dynamics in heifers born to vaccinated versus non-vaccinated dams in a chronically infected dairy herd

“…In yearly tests from 2009 to 2014, C. burnetii DNA was detected by polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in the bulk tank milk (BTM) indicating an excretion rate higher than 10 3 bacteria/mL and ELISA tests indicated a seroprevalence higher than 30% (Garcia-Ispierto et al, 2010López-Gatius et al, 2012;Nogareda et al, 2012;Tutusaus et al, 2014). The herd was therefore considered to be persistently infected with C. burnetii.…”

Infectious Agents

“…23,63,64 Finally, the placental damage may result in endometrial prostaglandin (PG)F 2α release causing luteolysis and abortion as has been demonstrated in goats with toxoplasmosis. 65 However, cows with high Neospora antibody titers have higher plasma progesterone levels throughout gestation than seronegative cows or cows with low antibody titers; 66 in a study in which exogenous progesterone was administered during the mid-gestation period, the risk of abortion increased dramatically in cows with high levels of antibodies against N. caninum. 67 It seems most likely that all three of the proposed mechanisms play a part in inducing Neospora-associated abortion in cattle.…”