Veal Calves Produce Less Antibodies against C. Perfringens Alpha Toxin Compared to Beef Calves

Abstract

Enterotoxaemia is a disease with a high associated mortality rate, affecting beef and veal calves worldwide, caused by C. perfringens alpha toxin and perfringolysin. A longitudinal study was conducted to determine the dynamics of antibodies against these toxins in 528 calves on 4 beef and 15 veal farms. The second study aimed to determine the effect of solid feed intake on the production of antibodies against alpha toxin and perfringolysin. The control group only received milk replacer, whereas in the test group solid feed was provided. Maternal antibodies for alpha toxin were present in 45% of the veal calves and 66% of the beef calves. In beef calves a fluent transition from maternal to active immunity was observed for alpha toxin, whereas almost no veal calves developed active immunity. Perfringolysin antibodies significantly declined both in veal and beef calves. In the second study all calves were seropositive for alpha toxin throughout the experiment and solid feed intake did not alter the dynamics of alpha and perfringolysin antibodies. In conclusion, the present study showed that veal calves on a traditional milk replacer diet had significantly lower alpha toxin antibodies compared to beef calves in the risk period for enterotoxaemia, whereas no differences were noticed for perfringolysin.

Toxin-neutralizing antibodies protect against Clostridium perfringens-induced necrosis in an intestinal loop model for bovine necrohemorrhagic enteritis

“…Similar to the inhibition of the alpha toxin activities, the ability of sera to neutralize the PFO activity was assessed by pre-incubating a two-fold dilution series of the sera (two wells per dilution) with a constant amount of perfringolysin O (2 μg/ml recombinant perfringolysin O). Recombinant perfringolysin O was produced as previously described [ 33 ]. The inhibitory capacity of the antiserum was expressed as the highest dilution that inhibited perfringolysin O induced hemolysis.…”

Rethinking the role of alpha toxin in Clostridium perfringens-associated enteric diseases: a review on bovine necro-haemorrhagic enteritis

“…We showed that milk replacer has an important predisposing effect in a ligated loop model for necro-haemorrhagic enteritis [ 35 ]. Furthermore, within the Belgian Blue breed, milk-fed veal calves produce less antibodies against C. perfringens alpha toxin than beef calves [ 36 ]. This suggests that calves fed cow’s milk or milk replacer might have less contact with alpha toxin, leading to the absence of active immunity, and thus potentially leaving the calves unprotected against necro-haemorrhagic enteritis.…”

“…This suggests that calves fed cow’s milk or milk replacer might have less contact with alpha toxin, leading to the absence of active immunity, and thus potentially leaving the calves unprotected against necro-haemorrhagic enteritis. Indeed, when C. perfringens is cultured in the presence of milk replacer, the alpha toxin activity of the supernatant decreases in a dose-dependent manner, compared to a negative control cultured without milk replacer [ 36 , Supplemental file 1]. The observation that contact with milk decreases toxin expression seems in contradiction to the observation that high milk diets predispose for necro-haemorrhagic enteritis.…”

“…Additional indirect evidence pointing towards the importance of alpha toxin as a vaccine antigen is the observation that calves in veal production systems do not develop an active immunity towards alpha toxin, when maternal immunity declines. This absence of antibody production after decay of maternal antibodies might explain why calves in veal production systems are at higher risk to develop necro-haemorrhagic enteritis than calves raised for beef production, in which a fluent transition from passive maternal to active immunity is observed [ 32 , 36 ]. The C-terminal domain of alpha toxin is a promising candidate for future vaccine development [ 66 ].…”