Pathological and immunohistochemical investigations in paratuberculosis disease in goats

In this study, paratuberculosis disease, which causes loss of productivity in goats in our country and around Adana and is mostly latent, was investigated pathologically. The material of the study consisted of 25 intestinal tissues of goats from the districts and villages around Adana, which were necropsied with suspicion of paratuberculosis and subsequently diagnosed with paratuberculosis using the Ziehl-Nelson staining method. Intestinal tissues of 8 animals that died from diseases that did not affect the digestive system were also used as controls. The collected intestinal tissues were kept in a 10% formaldehyde solution for at least 48 hours and then washed in tap water overnight. Afterwards, they were passed through graded alcohols, cleared in xylene, and then embedded in paraffin and blocked. Sections were cut onto 5 µ slides from the blocked tissues. Sections were stained with hematoxylin-eosin, Ziehl-Nelseen and immunohistochemically with iNOS antibody. After the diagnosis of paratuberculosis was made with histopathological findings and Ziehl-Nelseen staining, iNOS antibody staining results were evaluated. As a result, it was determined that iNOS expression in paratuberculosis tissues was significantly increased compared to control animals (p<0.01). With these results, it was thought that the prevalence of paratuberculosis in goats in the region was high and iNOS expression may play an active role in the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in the disease. More extensive studies are needed on the subject for other factors that play a role in the pathogenesis of intestinal inflammation in the disease.