Veterinarski Glasnik (Jan 2005)

Possibility for use of RT-PCR technique in establishing presence of bovine viral diarrhea virus in sperm of breeding bulls

  • Petrović Tamaš,
  • Lazić Sava,
  • Jovičin Milovan,
  • Đuričić Bosiljka

DOI
https://doi.org/10.2298/VETGL0504371P
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 59, no. 3-4
pp. 371 – 381

Abstract

Read online

The bovine viral diarrhea (BVD) virus is a significant health-economic pathogen in cattle which can be excreted and spread also through sperm of persistently or acutely infected bulls. Native sperm of 6 bulls, found to be negative to the BVD virus by isolating the virus and using the RT-PCR method, was experimentally infected with a tenfold dilution of the non-cytopathogen 22146 strain of the BVD virus with a titer of 105,5. This way, dilutions of the BVD virus from 10-1 to 10-6 (5 x 104 TCID/50 do 0,5 TCID/50 in 0.1 ml native sperm were obtained. From sperm infected in this way, the virus was reisolated on FTB cell culture in a microtiter plate with 96 pools in which each sample of the infected sperm was set up in three samples, and each of them was titrated to a dilution of 1:2 to 1:256. The presence of the BVD virus was proven using the technique of fluorescent antibodies in a second blind passage on FTB culture cells. For cell culture an extremely toxic effect of native sperm to a dilution of 1:64 was established. The BVD virus was reisolated from sperm in all three sperm samples with 5 x 104, 5 x 103 i 5 x 102 TCID/50, and it was not reisolated from sperm with 50, with 5, and with 0.5 TCID/50 BVD virus in 0.1 ml native sperm. At the same time, the presence of the BVD viral genome was proved using the RT-PCR method in the same samples of artificially infected native sperm of bulls. A positive re suit was established in native sperm with 5 x 104, 5 x 103, 5 x 102 and 50 TCID/50 BVD virus n 0.1 ml native sperm. The experiment proved that the RT-PCR method has advantages over the isolation of the BVD virus from samples of native sperm of bulls. These are: shortterm investigations (1 to 2 days) and greater sensitivity (10 times bigger than the isolation of the virus). The isolation of the virus takes at least 10 days, and its greater sensitivity is primarily a result of the cyrotoxic effect of native sperm of bulls on cell culture.

Keywords