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Virginia Tech

Immunological Response to Clostridium perfringens in Two Genetically Divergent Lines of Chickens as Influenced by Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Genotype

Abstract

dc:description.abstract

Chickens genetically selected for low (LA) or high (HA) antibody response to sheep red blood cells (SRBC) displayed a correlated change in major histocompatibility complex (MHC), so that LA chickens were 96% B¹³ and HA chickens were 96% B²¹. During a clinical outbreak of necrotic enteritis, B²¹B²¹ genotypes experienced significantly less mortality (6% vs. 13 %) compared to B¹³B¹³ genotypes. A study was carried out to assess immunological differences between LA and HA lines during exposure to Clostridium perfringens. In Experiment 1, chickens were orally gavaged with a low (10⁷ CFU/mL) or high (10⁹ CFU/mL) dose of C. perfringens. In Experiment 2, chickens were orally gavaged with live coccidia oocysts on experiment d 1, followed by 10⁷ CFU/mL C. perfringens on d 5. Unfortunately, establishment of necrotic enteritis infection was unsuccessful in both experiments as evidenced by lack of significant intestinal lesions, as well as no negative effect on bird performance. In an ex vivo study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were isolated from each genetic line, cultured, stimulated with LPS (4 h), and exposed to varying concentrations of C. perfringens α-toxin (1, 10, 100, 1000 U/L) for 2 and 4 h. Evaluation of cellular proliferation, percent cytotoxicity and immunological gene expression was carried out in a variety of experiments. Genetic lines were found to be highly divergent in all analyses.

Degree

thesis:*
Name thesis:degree_name
Master of Science
Level thesis:degree_level
masters
Discipline thesis:degree_discipline
Animal and Poultry Sciences
Department dc:contributor.department
Animal and Poultry Sciences
Grantor dc:publisher
Virginia Tech
Year dc:date.issued
2011

Author and committee

dc:creator, dc:contributor.*
Author dc:creator
  • Sumners, Lindsay Hart
Chair dc:contributor.committeechair
  • Dalloul, Rami A.
Committee members dc:contributor.committeemember
  • McElroy, Audrey P.
  • Wong, Eric A.

Subjects

dc:subject × 5

Rights

dc:rights
Statement dc:rights
  • In Copyright

Identifiers

dc:identifier.*
Dc Identifier Other
etd-06202011-123953
OAI identifier oai:identifier
oai:vtechworks.lib.vt.edu:10919/43370

Chain of custody

source
Harvested from
Virginia Tech
Base URL
vtechworks.lib.vt.edu/oai/request
Last updated
2026-07-22
Source record
OAI-PMH GetRecord
citation

Sumners, Lindsay Hart. Immunological Response to Clostridium perfringens in Two Genetically Divergent Lines of Chickens as Influenced by Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) Genotype. masters thesis, Virginia Tech, 2011. http://hdl.handle.net/10919/43370