Protective effect of chicken yolk antibody Y against Campylobacter jejuni induced diarrhea in cats

Abstract

Campylobacter jejuni (C. jejuni) is a common pathogen that often causes diarrhea, loss of appetite, and even enteritis in domestic cats, affecting their growth and development, especially in kittens under 6 months of age. Oral passive immunization with chicken yolk antibody Y has been proved effective for the treatment of gastrointestinal pathogen infections due to its high specificity. In this study, C. jejuni was isolated from diarrheal cat feces, and the specific egg yolk antibody Y against C. jejuni was demonstrated to effectively inhibit its proliferation in vitro experiments. To evaluate the effect of anti-C. jejuni IgY, the mouse C. jejuni infection model was established and it was found that IgY could alleviate C. jejuni-induced clinical symptoms. Consistent with these results, the reduction of pro-inflammatory factors and intestinal colonization by C. jejuni in the IgY-treated groups, especially in the high dose group. We then evaluated the protective effect of IgY on young Ragdoll cats infected with C. jejuni. This specific antibody reduced the rate of feline diarrhea, protected the growth of young cats, inhibited systemic inflammatory hyperactivation, and increased fecal short-chain fatty acid concentrations. Notably, IgY may have a protective role by changing intestinal amino acid metabolism and affecting C. jejuni chemotaxis. Collectively, specific IgY is a promising therapeutic strategy for C. jejuni-induced cat diarrhea.