Transferrins Reduce Replication of in McCoy Cells.

() resides in the intestines of pigs and tetracycline-resistant strains are emerging worldwide. Intestinal infections are often subclinical. However, the gut is regarded as a reservoir and clinical infections have been associated with enteritis, conjunctivitis, pneumonia and reproductive failure. was found in boar semen and venereal transmission occurred. We studied the anti- activity of ovotransferrin (ovoTF) and bovine lactoferrin (bLF). Pre-incubation of with bLF or ovoTF had no significant effect on overall chlamydia replication (mean fluorescence area) in McCoy cells. The addition of ovoTF to the culture medium had no effect on bacterial replication, but the addition of 0.5 or 5 mg/mL of bLF significantly reduced the inclusion size by 17% and 15% respectively. Egg components are used for cryopreservation of boar semen. When inoculating an ovoTF-containing and spiked semen sample in McCoy cells, a significant reduction in inclusion number (by 7%) and overall replication (by 11%) was observed. Thus, we showed that transferrins possess anti-chlamydial activity. Moreover, ovoTF addition to semen extenders might reduce venereal transmission. Further research is needed to unravel the mechanisms behind the observations and to enhance the effect of transferrins on .