Lymphocyte blastogenesis and cellular cytotoxicity in a congenital infection of bovine fetuses related to epizootic bovine abortion

The disease referred to as epizootic bovine abortion (EBA) was experimentally induced in bovine fetuses. Dark-field microscopy was used to detect congenital infection with an unclassified spirochaete-like organism. Some of the fetuses collected at abattoirs were also found to be naturally infected with a morphologically similar microorganism. Blood counts and organ weights were correlated with the presence of the microorganism. Lymphocyte blastogenesis increased, the result of in vivo stimulation among the infected fetuses. Phytomitogens (phytohaemagglutinin, concanavalin A and lipopolysaccharide) also stimulated greater responses in infected fetuses when compared to results in normal fetuses. Cellular cytotoxicity was examined by the single cell assay and results indicated that there were fewer cytotoxic lymphocytes among the diseased fetuses. The infected abattoir-collected specimens were obtained from clinically normal adult cattle, and the immunological changes in these fetuses were closely characterised with those of the EBA diseased fetuses. These naturally infected fetuses showed signs of a mild infectious disease.