Effects of Salmonella enterica ser. Enteritidis and Heidelberg on host CD4(+)CD25(+) regulatory T cell suppressive immune responses in chickens

Poultry infected with Salmonella mount an immune response initially, however the immune responses eventually disappear leading the bird to be a carrier of Salmonella. The hypothesis of this study is that Salmonella infection induces T regulatory cell numbers and cytokine production and suppress host T cells locally in the gut to escape the host immune responses. An experiment was conducted to comparatively analyze the effect of S. enterica ser. Enteritidis (S. Enteritidis) and S. enterica ser. Heidelberg (S. Heidelberg) infection on CD4(+)CD25(+) T regulatory cell properties in chickens. A total of 144 broiler chicks were randomly distributed into three experimental groups of non-infected control, S. Enteritidis infected and S. Heidelberg infected groups. Chickens were orally inoculated with PBS (control) or 5x10(6) CFU/mL of either S. Enteritidis or S. Heidelberg at 3 d of age. Each group was replicated in six pens with eight chickens per pen. Chickens infected with S. Enteritidis had 6.2, 5.4, and 3.8 log(10) CFU/g, and chickens infected with S. Heidelberg had 7.1, 4.8, and 4.1 log(10) CFU/g Salmonella in the cecal contents at 4, 11, and 32 dpi, respectively. Both S. Enteritidis and S. Heidelberg were recovered from the liver and spleen 4 dpi. At 4, 11, and 32 dpi, chickens infected with S. Enteritidis and S. Heidelberg had increased CD4(+)CD25(+) cell numbers as well as IL-10 mRNA transcription of CD4(+)CD25(+) cells compared to that in the control group. CD4(+)CD25(+) cells from S. Enteritidis- and S. Heidelberg-infected chickens and restimulated with 1 μg antigen in vitro, had higher (P < 0.05) IL-10 mRNA transcription than the CD4(+)CD25(+) cells from the non-infected controls Though at 4dpi, chickens infected with S. Enteritidis and S. Heidelberg had a significant (P < 0.05) increase in CD4(+)CD25(-) IL-2, IL-1β, and IFNγ mRNA transcription, the CD4(+)CD25(-) IL-2, IL-1β, and IFNγ mRNA transcription, were comparable to that in the control group at 11 and 32dpi identifying that the host inflammatory response against Salmonella disappears at 11 dpi. It can be concluded that S. Enteritidis and S. Heidelberg infection at 3 d of age induces a persistent infection through inducing CD4(+)CD25(+) cells and altering the IL-10 mRNA transcription of CD4(+)CD25(+) cell numbers and cytokine production in chickens between 3 to 32 dpi allowing chickens to become asymptomatic carriers of Salmonella after 18 dpi.