Abstract

Velogenic Newcastle disease virus (VNDV) shows systemic dissemination and it affects the histological structure and function of the kidneys. Present study is an novel attempt to correlate the changes in renal biochemical functions and gene expression of different inflammatory cytokines with related renal pathology induced by VNDV in experimentally infected broilers in different ages. One hundred broiler chickens were divided into 4 groups: group 1 served as control (non-infected group), and groups 2, 3 and 4 were inoculated with 106 EID50 of NDV on the 10th, 20th and 30th days of age, respectively. Serum samples were collected to evaluate uric acid and creatinine levels. Kidney specimens were collected for virus detection using real time RT-PCR, evaluation of gene expression of IL-6 and IFN-γ as well as histopathological, histochemical and immunohictochemical analysis. The highest concentration of uric acid and creatinine profile were found in Group 4 (12.06 ± 1.25 and 2.16 ± 0.12, respectively) on 7 dpi. IL-6 and IFN-γ were significantly elevated at the 7th dpi in Group 4 compared to other infected groups. The renal histopathological lesions included tubulointerstitial nephritis and glomerulopathy with expression of virus antigen in different areas of renal tissue. histopathology was the hallmark of VNDV infection in broiler chickens; their severity was related to the increased expression of inflammatory cytokines genes (IL-6 and IFN-γ) and virus antigen residence in renal tissue.