Vet World   Vol.13   September-2020  Article-16

Leukocyte populations and their cell adhesion molecules expression in newborn dromedary camel calves

Background and Aim: Different properties of the newborn immune system have been characterized in many species. For the newborn camel calf, however, the phenotype and composition of blood leukocytes have so far not been evaluated. The current study aimed to analyze the distribution of leukocyte subpopulations and their expression pattern of cell adhesion molecules in newborn and adult dromedary camels.

Materials and Methods: Blood samples were collected from 17 newborn camel calves and 32 adult camels. For each sample, total leukocytes were separated and analyzed for their composition and cell adhesion molecules expression by flow cytometry.

Results: In comparison to adult camels, newborn camel calves had higher leukocyte numbers and higher numbers of neutrophils, monocytes, and lymphocytes but lower numbers of eosinophils in their blood. Among the lymphocyte populations in calves, the fractions of B cells and γδ T cells were elevated when compared to adults, whereas CD4-positive T cells were reduced. The comparison between camel calves and adult camels revealed significantly lower expression of the cell adhesion molecules CD11a, CD11b, and CD18 on granulocytes, monocytes, and lymphocytes in calves.

Conclusion: Newborn camel calves show a distinct composition and phenotype pattern of blood leukocytes when compared to adult camels. The observed rise in many leukocyte populations in calf blood may be due to reduced migratory activity in calf leukocyte populations. Keywords: adhesion molecules, flow cytometry, immunophenotype, leukocytes, newborn camel calf.

Keywords: adhesion molecules, flow cytometry, immunophenotype, leukocytes, newborn camel calf.

How to cite this article: Gaashan MM, Al-Mubarak AIA, Hussen J (2020) Leukocyte populations and their cell adhesion molecules expression in newborn dromedary camel calves, Veterinary World, 13(9): 1863-1869.

Received: 30-04-2020  Accepted: 31-07-2020     Published online: 12-09-2020

Corresponding author: Jamal Hussen   E-mail: jhussen@kfu.edu.sa

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2020.1863-1869

Copyright: Gaashan, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.