mRNA profile of Nellore calves after primary infection with Haemonchus placei

Haemonchus parasites are responsible for many losses in animal production. However, few studies are available, especially of zebu cattle. In this study, we investigated mRNA differences of immune response genes in naïve Nellore calves infected with Haemonchus placei, relating these differences to patterns of cellular infiltrate. Calves were infected with 15,000 H. placei L3 larvae and after 7 days lymph node and abomasum tissues were collected. IL-2, IL-4, IL-8, IL-12, IL-13, IFN-γ, MCP-1, lysozyme, pepsinogen and TNF-α genes were evaluated by qPCR. Mast cells, eosinophils and globular leukocytes were counted by abomasum histology. In the infected group, IL-4, IL-13 and TNF-α were up-regulated in the abomasal lymph node. In the abomasum, IL-13 increased and TNF-α was down-regulated (p < 0.05). No differences were detected for mast cells and eosinophil counts in abomasal tissue (p > 0.05). We conclude that for this infection time, there was Th2 polarization but that cellular infiltrate in abomasal tissue takes longer to develop.