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Description:
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The purpose of this research was to investigate selected methods of mucosal
immunization for commercial chickens . Induction of mucosal immunity in commercial
chickens through the use of orally administered subunit vaccines or through
immunomodulation of the host ? ?s response to live vaccines may be a viable means to
control enteric infections in commercial poultry . In the present investigations we
evaluated a means for delivering protein antigen in the drinking water and the use of
CpG -ODNs , a recently reported mucosal adjuvant , in order to both improve this
response and to modulate the host ? ?s immune response when vaccinated with field strains
of Eimeria acervulina and Eimeria tenella .
In order to evaluate the efficacy of immunizing commercial poultry with subunit
vaccines through the drinking water we chose the model antigen Bovine Serum Albumin
(BSA ) . Chicks were administered BSA via intraperitoneal (I .P . ) injection , oral crop
gavage , or orally through the addition of BSA to the drinking water . These experiments
demonstrated the efficacy of drinking water administration to induce antibodyproduction in the serum , intestine , and bile . When BSA was co -administered with CpGODNs
we observed a modest increase in this response dependent upon dose .
To evaluate the immunomodulation of the host response to live parasite using
CpG -ODNs we used three administration models . The first was a single dose of CpGODNs
with a trickle immunization regime of Eimeria acervulina . The second was coadministration
of CpG -ODNs with a clinical dose of Eimeria acervulina or tenella . The
third was pre -administration of CpG -ODNs 24 hours prior to the clinical dose of either
species . These studies demonstrate that the first and third models were effective in
reducing lesions and improving performance . |