Acta Veterinaria et Zootechnica Sinica ›› 2024, Vol. 55 ›› Issue (6): 2588-2598.doi: 10.11843/j.issn.0366-6964.2024.06.030

• Preventive Veterinary Medicine • Previous Articles     Next Articles

Evaluation of the Immune Protective Effect of Recombinant MIC2 from Eimeria intestinalis in Rabbits

Hao CHEN1(), Ge HAO1(), Jiayan PU1, Jie XIAO1, Changming XIONG1, Wei HE1, Yuhua ZHU1, Liwen XU1, Qing JIANG2,*(), Guangyou YANG1,*()   

  1. 1. College of Veterinary Medicine, Sichuan Agricultural University, Chengdu 611130, China
    2. Ya'an Polytechnic College, Ya'an 625014, China
  • Received:2023-09-05 Online:2024-06-23 Published:2024-06-28
  • Contact: Qing JIANG, Guangyou YANG E-mail:chenhao2197@outlook.com;haoge@stu.sicau.edu.cn;jiangqing0904@126.com;guangyou1963@126.com

Abstract:

The aim of this study was to evaluate the immunoprotective effect of recombinant Eimeria intestinalis microneme protein 2 (rEiMIC2) in rabbits and to provide a reference for the study of subunit recombinant vaccine against Eimeria intestinalis. EiMIC2 gene was identified in E. intestinalis transcriptome data, then cloning, prokaryotic expression and protein purification were conducted. The immunoreactivity of the recombinant protein was also detected using immunoblotting. Thirty-two 35-day-old coccidia-free New Zealand young rabbits were randomly divided into 4 groups (unchallenged group, challenged group, pET-32a(+) vector group and rEiMIC2 immunization group), with 8 rabbits in each group. In the unchallenged and challenged groups, 1 mL sterile PBS was subcutaneously injected into the neck of each rabbit. While in the pET-32a(+) vector group and rEiMIC2 immunization group, each rabbits were inoculated with 100 μg pET-32a(+) protein or rEiMIC2. A second immunization was conducted after 2 weeks of the first immunization. Fourteen days after the second immunization, excluding the unchallenged group, each of the remaining three groups of New Zealand rabbits was orally inoculated with 5×104 sporulated oocysts of Eimeria intestinalis; All New Zealand rabbits were euthanized 14 days post-infection. After immunizing rabbits with recombinant protein, the immune protection effect of rEiMIC2 was comprehensively evaluated by observing clinical symptoms, evaluating intestinal lesions, and measuring relative weight gain rate, oocyst reduction rate, anticoccidial index (ACI), feed-to-meat ratio, serum IgG, IL-2, IL-4, IL-10, IFN-γ. The results showed that, the open reading frame length of EiMIC2 gene was 1 605 bp, encoded a protein with a molecular mass of approximately 57.68 ku. Western blot showed that rEiMIC2 could be recognized by positive sera, indicating its good immunoreactivity. The immune protection experiment showed that after the challenge, the symptoms of depression and diarrhea appeared in each group, and one rabbit died in each challenged group and the rEiMIC2 immunization group; the relative weight gain rate of the rEiMIC2 immunization group was 73.97%, and the oocyst reduction rate was 69.98%, the ACI was 136.97, and the feed-to-meat ratio was 3.98∶1, which were significantly different from the challenged group (P < 0.05). Compared with the intestinal lesions in the challenged group, the intestinal lesions in the rEiMIC2 immunization group were milder, and the level of the IgG in serum was significantly higher than that in the challenged group (P < 0.05). In summary, after immunizing rabbits with rEiMIC2, it can effectively reduce the excretion of oocysts and the loss of weight gain, and reduce intestinal damage, which providing a certain protective effect of the rabbits.

Key words: Eimeria intestinalis, microneme proteins 2, rabbit, immune protective

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