Effect of bovine viral diarrhoea virus biotypes on adherence of sperm to oocytes during in-vitro fertilization in cattle.

Bovine viral diarrhoea virus (BVDV), a member of the Pestivirus genus, is one of the most important pathogens of dairy cattle; it can cause several clinical syndromes, ranging from subclinical to severe disease. The objectives of the current studies were to assess the effects of two biotypes of BVDV on sperm attachment to the zona pellucida (ZP) of oocytes and on fertilization rate in bovine in vitro fertilization (IVF). In two experiments, sperm at two concentrations (105 and 106/mL) and oocytes were incubated with 106 TCID50/mL cythopatic (CP) or noncythopatic (NCP) BVDV. In the first experiment, with the lower sperm concentration (105/mL), male and female gametes were infected with CP or NCP BVDV, whereas in the second experiment, the sperm concentration was 106/mL, and sperm and oocytes were also infected with CP or NCP BVDV. The number of sperm attached to the ZP and the fertilization rate were evaluated with fluorescence microscopy on the ZP of fertile and infertile oocytes. In the first experiment, compared to the control group (n = 97), oocytes infected with CP BVDV and incubated at the lower (105/mL) sperm concentration positively affected sperm attachment (n = 123) to the ZP of fertile oocytes (P < 0.05). In comparison with the control group (n = 115), sperm infected with CP BVDV negatively affected sperm binding (n = 93) to the ZP of infertile oocytes (P < 0.05). In the second experiment (106 sperm/mL), for both fertile and infertile oocyte groups, sperm attachment in the control group was very high and deemed uncountable. However, in treated groups, the number of sperm attached to the ZP was countable. Only sperm infected with CP BVDV negatively affected sperm binding capacity (n = 81) to the ZP of fertile oocytes (P < 0.05). Although CP and NCP BVDV significantly reduced the fertilization rate of oocytes incubated with a higher sperm concentration, with the lower sperm concentration, only NCP BVDV significantly diminished fertilization rate with contaminated sperm and oocytes (P < 0.05). In conclusion, this study supported the detrimental impacts of sperm or ooctyes infected with CP or NCP BVDV on sperm attachment to the ZP of bovine oocytes and on fertilization rate during bovine IVF.

Prevalence of bovine viral diarrhoea virus antibodies in bulk tank milk of industrial dairy cattle herds in suburb of Mashhad-Iran.

Bulk milk for the presence of antibodies against bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) from 38 industrial dairy cattle herds complexes with 250-3000 Holstein dairy cows in suburb of Mashhad-Iran was tested. None of the herds were vaccinated against BVDV. Commercial indirect ELISA-kit for the detection of specific antibodies was used. The result could be read visually where the optical density (OD) was measured at 450 nm. The percent positivity (PP) values >or=7 and <7 interpreted positive and negative, respectively. According to this study the apparent and the true prevalence of BVDV antibody-positive herds was 89.47 and 93.98%, respectively. The range of PP was 1.59-107.66 among the herds. The OD in 52.63% bulk milk of the herds was very high. It is concluded that exposure to BVD virus was widely distributed in the dairy cattle herds in suburb of Mashhad-Iran.