Innate immune response in avian macrophages elicited by Chlamydia psittaci Aangeboren immuniteit van aviaire macrofagen geïnduceerd door Chlamydia psittaci

Chlamydia psittaci is a gram-negative, obligate, intracellular bacterium, which mainly infects birds and mammals. Not much is known about innate immunity initiated by C. psittaci. The focus of the present study is on chicken macrophage activation and expression of cytokine, chemokine, caspase-1, iNOS and TLR genes during the early phase and mid-cycle period of the developmental cycle of the highly virulent C. psittaci strain 92/1293. C. psittaci significantly augmented the transcript levels for all genes investigated, especially during the mid-cycle period. These results demonstrate a robust innate immune response of chicken macrophages initiated by a C. psittaci infection.