Effects of re-infection with Neospora caninum in bulls on parasite detection in semen and blood and immunological responses

Abstract

Three bulls with experimentally induced primary infection with Neospora caninum were re-infected intravenously with 108 live N. caninum tachyzoites of the NC-1 isolate at 300 days post-infection to investigate the presence of N. caninum in semen and blood, and the associated immune responses. In parallel, three bulls with experimentally induced primary infection with N. caninum and three non-infected bulls were also monitored. Re-infected and infected bulls showed an intermittent presence of N. caninum DNA in semen with a parasite load ranging from 0.1 to 15.6 (mean 4.4) and 0.1 to 11.1 (mean 4.1) parasites/ml, respectively. Re-infected bulls showed significant and persistent serum-specific IgM and IgG antibody responses. Specific IgG levels were detected in seminal plasma of all infected bulls, but the magnitude of the response was significantly higher in re-infected rather than in chronically infected animals. The mean specific IFN-γ levels in re-infected bulls were significantly increased as early as 3 and 7 days after experimental infection when compared to bulls in other groups. This study showed that the intermittent presence and parasite load of N. caninum in the semen of re-infected bulls is very similar to that reported in chronically infected animals. The protozoa could not be isolated from BALB/c nu/nu mice inoculated with PCR-positive semen samples and inseminated heifers with pooled semen samples did not show seroconversion. Plasma IFN-γ level seems to be a good indicator of a recent N. caninum infection.