Genital route in experimental infection, a promising approach to study genital leptospirosis in ruminants.

Infection by Leptospira sp., mainly strains from the Sejroe serogroup, impairs the reproductive efficiency of ruminants leading to economic losses. Although the majority of experimental studies use the intraperitoneal route of leptospiral infection, it has been suggested that natural infection occurs frequently by sexual transmission. Thus, we assessed the genital route of infection to study genital leptospirosis in the sheep model. A strain of L. borgpetersenii serogroup Sejroe, serovar Hardjobovis was inoculated in 18 ewes, divided into three groups for inoculation: intraperitoneal (n=6; Gip), cervical superficial (genital) (n=6; Ggen) and conjunctival (n=6; Gconj). Monthly, for 90 days, blood samples were collected for serology (MAT) and PCR was performed on urine, cervical-vaginal mucus, and uterine fragments. All ewes were successfully infected, independently of the infection route. Gip and Ggen did not differ throughout the experiment, either on seroconversion or on PCR positivity on urine or genital samples. In contrast, Gconj presented fewer seroreactive animals (P<0.05) and fewer PCR-pos on genital samples than the other groups. The results obtained demonstrated that, although all groups presented both urinary and genital infections, the genital route was more efficient and did not differ from the traditional intraperitoneal. It indicates that genital via, besides being a naturally occurring transmission via, represents a promising and interesting route regarding future studies related to genital leptospirosis in ruminants, and its use should be encouraged.

Exogenous progestogens differentially alter gene expression of immature cumulus-oocyte complexes in sheep.

This study evaluated the role of progesterone (P4) and medroxyprogesterone acetate (MAP) on the molecular status of immature cumulus-oocyte complexes (COCs) and the implications for oocyte quality in sheep. The number of viable COCs per ewe and the rate of COCs screened for developmental competence by brilliant cresyl blue positive (BCB+) were similar (P > 0.05), respectively, across treatments (P4: 7.7 ± 0.7 and 4.7 ± 1.2; MAP: 5.7 ± 1.0 and 3.5 ± 2.3; and control: 5.7 ± 1.1 and 3.6 ± 2.4). The COCs' gene expression was altered by exogenous progestogens compared with the control group: markers of steroidogenic pathway (FSH receptor [FSHr], LH receptor [LHr], and estradiol receptor α) and of quality (zygote arrest 1, growth differentiation factor 9, and B-cell lymphoma 2) were in abundance in P4 (P < 0.05). In addition, reelin protein (RELN) was downregulated, and Bcl-2 was upregulated in MAP (P < 0.05). In the P4 vs MAP comparison, FSHr, LHr, and RELN genes were upregulated (P < 0.05) in the P4 group. In conclusion, P4 and MAP promoted dissimilar effects on transcriptome profiling of immature BCB-selected COCs, possibly due to the differences in the chemical structure of progestogens and concentrations of serum P4. Exogenous P4 impacted positively on the profile of genes related to oocyte quality.