The dose regimen formulation of doxycycline hydrochloride and florfenicol injection based on ex vivo pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic modeling against the Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae in pigs

Doxycycline hydrochloride and florfenicol combination(DoxHcl&FF)is an effective treatment for respiratory diseases.In the study,our objective Was to evaluate the activity of DoxHcl&FF against Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae(APP)in porcine pulmonary epithelial lining fluid(PELF)and the optimal dosage scheme to avoid the development of resistance.The DoxHcl&FF Was administered intramuscularly(IM)at 20mg/kg,and the PELF was collected at differ-ent time points.The minimum inhibitory concentration(MIC)and time-mortality curves were also included in the study.Based on the sigmoid Emax equation and dose equations,the study integrated the in vivo pharmacokinetic data of infected pigs and ex vivo pharmacodynamic data to obtain the area under concentration time curve(AUCo-24h)MIC values in PELF and achieve bacteriostatic activity,bactericidal activity and the virtual eradication of bacteria.The study showed that the combination of DoxHcl and FF caused no significant changes in PK parameters.The peak concentration(Cmax)of FF in healthy and diseased pigs was 8.87±0.08 and 8.67±0.07μg/mL,the_AUCo-24h were.172.75±2.52 and 18022±3.13 h-μg/mL,the Cmax of DoxHcl was 7.91±0.09 and 7.99±0.05μg/mL,and the AUCo-24h was 129.96±3.70 h-μg/mL and 169.82±4.38 h-μg/mL.DoxHcl&FF showed strong concentra-tion-dependent tendencies.The bacteriostatic,bactericidal,and elimination activity were calculated as 5.61,18.83 and 32.68 h,and the doses were 1.37(bacteriostatic),4.59(bactericidal)and 7.99(elimination)mg/kg.These findings indicated that the calculated recommended dose could assist in achieving more precise administration,increasing the effectiveness of DoxHcl&FF treatment for APP infections.

Epidemiological Investigation of Actinobacillus Pleuropneumoniae in Western Shandong

[ Objective ] The aim of this study was to investigate the epidemic status of porcine pleuropneumonia in western Shandong and establish the PCR method of actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae （APP）. [ Method] The epidemic status of APP in lesion tissues of 186 death pigs and 545 health pigs without clinical symptoms was analyzed by PCR method. [ Result] APP positive rate in 186 samples accounted for 43.0% （80/186）, while that in 545 porcine serums accounted for 9.4% （51/545）. [ Conclusion] This PCR method can be used as one of the important means for APP clinical diagnosis.

Establishment of an Indirect ELISA with the Major Epitope Domain of ApxⅡ of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Expressed in Prokaryotic Cells

[Objective] This study aimed to develop an indirect ELISA to detect the antibodies against Actinobacil us pleuropneumoniae （APP） using the recombinant ApxⅡA1 protein expressed in prokaryotic cells as the antigen. [Method] The major epi-tope domain of ApxⅡ was cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pET-28a （＋） to obtain the recombinant plasmid pET-ApxⅡA1, which was then transformed into E. coli BL21 （DE3） for expression. The immunogenicity of the recombinant pro-tein was analyzed by western-blotting. After that, the purified recombinant protein was used as the coating antigen in the indirect ELISA for detecting the antibodies against APP. Final y, the concentration of coated antigen and the dilution of serum were optimized. [Result] Proved by enzyme digestion and sequencing, the recombi-nant plasmid pET-ApxⅡA1 was constructed successful y. The recombinant protein was highly expressed in prokaryotic cells, and Western-blotting analysis showed that it was recognized specifical y by positive serum of APP. The indirect ELISA could detect the antibody against APP with the purified recombinant protein as the coating antigen. The optimal concentration of coated antigen was 1.23 μg/ml and the opti-mal dilution of serum was 1：100. Compared with a commercial ELISA kit detecting antibody against ApxⅣ, the coincidence rate of the indirect ELISA was 90.4%. [Conclusion] Our results indicated that the indirect ELISA is sensitive and specific, and suitable for evaluating the effect of APP vaccine and epidemiological surveys.

Identification and Detection of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae in Infected and Subclinically Infected Pigs by Multiplex PCR Based on the Genes ApxIVA and OmlA

PCRs based on different genes of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae have been developed for detecting and identifying A. pleuropneumoniae. Some of them could amplify positive fragments from the phylogenetically closely related species bacteria. To improve veracity and specificity of PCR, a species-specific multiplex PCR assay was developed to identify and detect A. pleuropneumoniae, based on the 3＇-terminus of the species-specific apxlVA gene and the already existing species-specific primers in the omlA gene. Both 346-bp and 950-bp fragments could be simultaneously amplified from all A. pleuropneumoniae reference strains and isolates, and the species specificity of the assay was evaluated with a collection of ten strains representing eight different species bacteria including species normally found in the respiratory tracts of swine. All of these strains turned out negative in the multiplex PCR. All sequences of products of multiplex PCR randomly sampled were also correct. The sensitivity of the multiplex PCR was determined to be 10 pg of A. pleuropneumoniae DNA. The multiplex PCR and bacterial isolation were compared to determine their sensitivities by using experimentally infected pigs and clinical disease pigs. The multiplex PCR was more sensitive than bacterial isolation. The multiplex PCR was also evaluated on mixed bacterial cultures from clinical healthy pigs. 26/100 （26%） of the subclinically infected pigs were detected from clinical healthy pigs. The results indicate that the multiplex PCR assay is a sensitive, highly specific, and effective diagnostic tool for identification and detection of A. pleuropneumoniae.

Cloning, Expression of apxl Gene of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Development of ELISA

Based on the published nucleotide sequence of the apxICA of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae in Genbank(S4074), a pair of primers were designed. A 3 640 bp(4 687 - 8 326 bp)gene fragment was amplified by PCR from the isolated strain of A. pleuropneumoniae serovar 1. Then, it was cloned into pMD18-T, identified by both restriction endonuclease and sequence analysis, and inserted into pET-28a expression vector to yield the expression plasmid. SDS-PAGE result indicated expression of apxICA in BL21 (DE3), Western blot analysis showed the protein's immunogenicity. Using the expressed protein, ELISA was established to detect serum antibody against ApxI. The feature of ELISA to detect highly virulent A. pleuropneumoniae strains infection was proved by primary clinical application.

In Vitro Activity and Postantibiotic Effect of Tulathromycin against Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia

The postantibiotic effect （PAE） is defined as the suppression of bacterial growth persisting after a short exposure of bacterial cultures to an antibiotic. This phenomenon has obvious clinical interest, because antibiotic agents which produce extensive PAEs could be administrated less frequently without reducing efficacy. The minimum inhibitory concentration （MIC） and PAE of tulathromycin and erythromycin on five isolates of Actinobacillus pleuropneumonia were determined. All strains were susceptible to tulathromycin （ MIC： 0.25 - 1.00 μg/ml） and resistant to erythromycin （MIC： 32 -128 μg/ml）. The mean PAEs of 1 xMIC, 2 xMIC, 4 xMIC and 8 xMIC of tulathromycin against the tested isolates were 0.62, 1.53, 2.70 and 4.50, respectively. These results indicated that tulathromycin might be administered at longer time intervals than those already applied. This is in tavorite of the clinical rational use of antimicrobial druqs.

Cloning and Expression of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae Gene Coding for TbpA and Development of an Indirect TbpA-ELISA

This study presents the cloning and expression of gene encoding transferrin-binding protein A from Actinobacillus pleuropneurnoniae in Escherichia coli expression system and the development of an indirect TbpA-ELISA. The gene coding TbpA was amplified from the A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 2 genome using polymerase chain reaction and cloned to pET-28b expression vector under the control of strong, inducible T7 promoter. The recombinant plasmid was expressed in E. coli BL21 （DE3）. The expressed fusion protein was analyzed using SDS-PAGE and Western blotting. The diagnostic potential of recombinant TbpA （rTbpA） was evaluated through an antibody-detection indirect ELISA based on the purified rTbpA. The TbpA antibodies were detectable in mice on day 7 after vaccination with purified rTbpA protein or infection with A. pleuropneumoniae serotype 10 with the TbpA-based ELISA. In addition, the TbpA-ELISA was able to detect 12 serotyping rabbit antisera postinoculation （PI） with A. pleuropneumoniae 12 serotypes experimentally. The comparable result was obtained by detecting the 117 clinical serum samples using, respectively, the TbpA-ELISA and indirect hemagglutination test （IHA） based on multiplex antigen. The result indicates that the TbpA-ELISA was the more sensitive method compared with the Mix-IHA method because of its consistent presence in A. pleuropneumoniae serotypes. In conclusion, the conserved TbpA of A. pleuropneumoniae can be used for the development of a cross-serotype diagnostic method for the detection of antibodies against A. pleuropneurnoniae.

Rationally designed mariner vectors for functional genomic analysis of Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and other Pasteurellaceae species by transposon-directed insertion-site sequencing (TraDIS)

Comprehensive identification of conditionally essential genes requires efficient tools for generating high-density transposon libraries that, ideally, can be analysed using next-generation sequencing methods such as Transposon Directed Insertion-site Sequencing (TraDIS). The Himar1 (mariner) transposon is ideal for generating near-saturating mutant libraries, especially in AT-rich chromosomes, as the requirement for integration is a TA dinucleotide, and this transposon has been used for mutagenesis of a wide variety of bacteria. However, plasmids for mariner delivery do not necessarily work well in all bacteria. In particular, there are limited tools for functional genomic analysis of Pasteurellaceae species of major veterinary importance, such as swine and cattle pathogens, Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae and Pasteurella multocida, respectively. Here, we developed plasmids, pTsodCPC9 and pTlacPC9 (differing only in the promoter driving expression of the transposase gene), that allow delivery of mariner into both these pathogens, but which should also be applicable to a wider range of bacteria. Using the pTlacPC9 vector, we have generated, for the first time, saturating mariner mutant libraries in both A. pleuropneumoniae and P. multocida that showed a near random distribution of insertions around the respective chromosomes as detected by TraDIS. A preliminary screen of 5000 mutants each identified 8 and 14 genes, respectively, that are required for growth under anaerobic conditions. Future high-throughput screening of the generated libraries will facilitate identification of mutants required for growth under different conditions, including in vivo, highlighting key virulence factors and pathways that can be exploited for development of novel therapeutics and vaccines.