ehsan kazemi moghaddam

Given the significant zoonotic threat posed by Salmonella enterica serovar Dublin (S. Dublin) and its substantial impact on animal populations and public health, the objective of the present study was to assess the immunogenicity and protectivity of subcutaneous administration of Salmonella Dublin bacterin in a murine model. 

Specific pathogen-free female BALB/c mice were tested for Salmonella-free status, and housed in controlled conditions. A formalin-killed bacterin was prepared from a local isolate of S. Dublin using a well-established protocol, ensuring bacterial inactivation and safety. Groups 1 through 3 of mice were received, respectively, either phosphate buffered saline plus alum or a single dose of inactivated bacterins with and without alum adjuvant via subcutaneous route. Immune responses were evaluated through microagglutination, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, delayed-type hypersensitivity, interferon-gamma assays, and challenge with viable S. Dublin.

Microagglutination and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay tests revealed alum-adjuvanted injection as the best method for stimulation of anti-S. Dublin antibodies production. The gamma interferon production and delayed hypersensitivity tests, crucial for cellular immunity, were also most elevated in mice injected with alum-adjuvanted S. Dublin bacterin. After the challenge with the live bacteria, the isolation rate of S. Dublin was significantly different (P=0.03) among the different groups but only mice injected with alum-adjuvanted showed a significant difference (P≤0.05) compared to the control group.

This study emphasizes the efficacy of alum as an adjuvant in inactivated S. Dublin vaccines. Insights gained from both humoral and cellular immune responses, provide valuable knowledge for the development of S. Dublin vaccination strategies.

 Today, the incidence of septic arthritis by Staphylococcus aureus has increased due to intra-articular injections, prosthetic joints, and underlying conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and immunosuppression. Pistacia atlantica has significant antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and antibacterial activities.

 Considering S. aureus as the most important etiology of septic arthritis, this experimental study aimed to evaluate the effects of P. atlantica on septic arthritis.

 Septic arthritis was induced by intra-articular injection of S. aureus suspension in left stifles of rats, which were divided randomly into eight groups, containing ten per group, including normal: no intervention; control: septic arthritis was induced but not treated; Oral Placebo (OP): 14 days daily P.O.; Local Injected Placebo (LIP): a single dose intra-articular (IA injection) of normal saline; Oral P. atlantica (OPa): 14 days daily P.O. P. atlantica extract; Local Injected P.atlantica (LIPa): a single-dose IA injection of P. atlantica extract; Prophylactic Oral P. atlantica (ProOPa): prophylactic P.O. P. atlantica extract daily one week before the induction for 21 days; Prophylactic Local Injected P. atlantica (ProLIPa): a prophylactic single-dose IA injection of P. atlantica extract one week before the induction. For further evaluations, blood and histopathological samples were obtained.

 Pistacia atlantica oral medication reduced the physical symptoms of inflammation. Although hematological analysis showed a fall in the control group compared to the normal group, all medicated groups increased. The OPa group showed the closest WBC count (9.46 ± 4.12 × 109/L) to the normal group (P = 0.073). All histopathological parameters had significantly higher scores in the control group compared to the normal group. Although the scores increased in the groups that received P. atlantica, they decreased in the groups that received placebo, except for synovitis degree. The OPa group demonstrated a lower degree of synovitis (1.40 ± 0.51) than the control group; however, it was not significant (P = 0.690). Local injections revealed higher erosion scores (2.80 ± 0.63 for the LIPa group and 2.70 ± 0.48 for the ProLIPa group) than the control group (P < 0.05).

 Oral administration of P. atlantica alleviated the clinical symptoms. Cellular immunity activation and systemic benefits of oral P. atlantica were assessed. Histopathology confirmed the immune system involvement and antibacterial activity of P. atlantica. More erosion may be due to more bacterial debris with arthritogenic properties. Meanwhile, the probability of the stimulatory effect of P. atlantica extract for synovial content should not be ignored.

Social stress is a factor involved in the etiology of many diseases. Also, gender is another factor which predisposes individuals to certain disease. Results from animal and human studies suggest that socially-stressed men are more vulnerable to catching diseases compared to socially-stressed women.

The role of chronic social stress and gender were examined in the present study through implementing food deprivation, food intake inequality, and unstable social status (cage-mate change every three days) for a period of 14 days on 96 male and female mice. Then, vital activity of peritoneal macrophages and spleen’s lymphocytes were measured using MTT test as well as the concentration of Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha (TNF-α) by ELISA technique.

Our results showed that cell viability of peritoneal macrophages and spleen’s lymphocytes as well as serum concentration of TNF-α in all female and male stressed animals increased compared to the controls (P

The results suggest that social factors have significant effects on immunity and should be considered in the studies of gender differences for evaluating possible effective mechanisms.

Due to the importance of Pseudomonas aeruginosa in severe inpatient infections and high mortality, the need for an efficient vaccine against these bacteria is increasing. In this regard, the general outer membrane porin of the most problematic microorganism P. aeruginosa, outer membrane protein F (OprF), is a good vaccine candidate.
The databank of NCBI was used to retrieve protein sequences recorded for OprF in P. aeruginosa.The current study aimed at investigating the conservation of the OprF in 150 reference sequences, clinical, and environmental strains of P. aeruginosa from different countries via bioinformatic tools.T-COFFEE and PRALINE software were used for alignment.
Of these, 134 strains were isolated from clinical specimens and other strains from environmental samples. Evaluation of alignment by the mentioned software clearly showed that this protein was conserved. Antigenicity and grand average of hydropathicity were favorable.
Conservation of OprF in all pathogenic and environmental strains of P. aeruginosa indicated that it can be considered as a good immunogen; however, the protectivity of OprF should be validated experimentally.