Plasmacytoid and conventional dendritic cells are early producers of IL‐12 inNeospora caninum‐infected mice

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Abstract
Neospora caninumis a coccidian parasite causative of clinical infections in a wide range of animal hosts. The maturation and activation of splenic conventional dendritic cells (cDCs) and plasmacytoid dendritic cells (pDCs) were studied here in BALB/c mice challenged intraperitoneal withN. caninumtachyzoites. The number of cDCs was found to decrease in the spleen of the infected mice 12 h and 2 days after the parasitic challenge, whereas at day 5 after infection it was significantly above that of mock‐infected controls. In contrast, the number of splenic pDCs did not change significantly on infection. In the infected mice, both cell subtypes displayed an activated phenotype with upregulation of costimulatory and MHC class II molecules. This stimulatory effect was more marked at the earliest assessed time point after infection, 12 h, when a clear increase in the frequency of cDCs (CD8α+and CD8α−) and pDCs producing interleukin‐12 (IL‐12) was also observed.N. caninumtachyzoites could be observed by confocal microscopy associated with sorted DCs. Overall, these results present the first evidence that both cDCs and pDCs mediatein vivothe innate immune response toN. caninuminfection through the production of IL‐12, a key cytokine for host resistance to neosporosis.
Funding Information
  • Federación Española de Enfermedades Raras

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