Baseline T-lymphocyte and cytokine indices in sheep peripheral blood.

Background: Sheep are an important livestock species worldwide and an essential large-animal model for animal husbandry and veterinary research. Understanding fundamental immune indicators, especially T-lymphocyte parameters, is necessary for research on sheep diseases and vaccines, to better understand the immune response to bacteria and viruses for reducing the use of antibiotics and improving the welfare of sheep. We randomly selected 36 sheep of similar ages to analyze cell-related immune indicators in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs). The proportions of CD4 and CD8 T cells in PBMCs were detected by flow cytometry. We used Concanavalin A (Con A) and Phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)/Ionomycin to stimulate PBMCs, and measured the expression of IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17A using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and enzyme-linked immunospot assay (ELISpot). Simultaneously, PMA/Ionomycin/brefeldin A (BFA) was added to PBMCs, then the expression of IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17A was detected by flow cytometry after 4 h of culturing. In addition, we observed the proliferation of PBMCs stimulated with Con A for 3, 4, and 5 days.

Results: The proportions of CD4 T lymphocytes (18.70 ± 4.21%) and CD8 T lymphocytes (8.70 ± 3.65%) were generally consistent among individuals, with a CD4/CD8 ratio of 2.40 ± 0.79. PBMCs produced high levels of IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-17A after stimulation with PMA/Ionomycin and Con A. Furthermore, PMA/Ionomycin stimulation of PBMC yielded significantly higher cytokine levels than Con A stimulation. Flow cytometry showed that the level of IFN-γ (51.49 ± 11.54%) in CD8 T lymphocytes was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than that in CD4 T lymphocytes (14.29 ± 3.26%); IL-4 (16.13 ± 6.81%) in CD4 T lymphocytes was significantly (p < 0.001) higher than that in CD8 T lymphocytes (1.84 ± 1.33%), There was no difference in IL-17A between CD4 (2.83 ± 0.98%) and CD8 T lymphocytes (1.34 ± 0.67%). The proliferation of total lymphocytes, CD4 T lymphocytes, and CD8 T lymphocytes continued to increase between days 3 and 5; however, there were no significant differences in proliferation between the cell types during the stimulation period.

Conclusions: Evaluating primary sheep immune indicators, especially T lymphocytes, is significant for studying cellular immunity. This study provided valuable data and theoretical support for assessing the immune response of sheep to pathogens and improving sheep welfare.