Investigation of biochemical parameters and cytokine profile in sheep with contagious ecthyma

Objective. This study investigated the serum biochemistry parameters and interleukins (IL-2, IL- 4) in sheep naturally infected with infectious ecthyma, identified the immune types formed, and revealed the direction of the dominant cytokine response. Materials and methods. 28 unvaccinated sheep aged 1-4 months showing clinical symptoms of ecthyma and 10 healthy sheep in the same age range were used. Measurements were taken of albumin (ALB), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), urea nitrogen (BUN), cholesterol (CHOL), creatinine (CRE), gamma-glutamyl transpeptidase (GGT), glucose (GLU), total bilirubin (TBIL) and total protein (TP). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to determine interleukins levels in the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) positive animal serum. Results. The biochemical analysis revealed that ALT, BUN, GGT, and CRE values in infected animals were significantly higher than in the control group (p=0.000 and p= 0.001) whereas TP and GLU values were significantly lower (p=0.000). There were no significant differences in ALB, CHOL, and TBIL values (p=0.1, p=0.05, p=0.08). Regarding the immune profile, infected animals had significantly higher IL-2 (%28) and IL-4 (%60) levels than the control group (p=0.008 and p=0.001). Conclusions. The findings indicate that Th1 (IL-2) and Th2 (IL-4) cytokines coexist while the dominant cytokine response in infected animals is Th2.