Temporal dynamics of the cellular, humoral and cytokine responses in chickens during primary and secondary infection with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium.

Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (S. Typhimurium) infections cause systemic disease in the young chick, whereas in the older chicken the infection is mainly restricted to the intestine. Chickens infected orally with S. Typhimurium (F98) at 6 weeks of age and re-infected 10 weeks later were monitored for antibody production, T-cell proliferation and production of selected cytokines (interferon-gamma, interleukin-1beta and transforming growth factor-beta(4)). A strong coordinated antigen-specific humoral and cellular immune response was temporally linked to resolution of the primary infection. Enhanced levels of mRNA encoding the cytokines, interleukin-1beta, transforming growth factor-beta(4) and interferon-gamma were also evident during early phases of primary infection. Secondary infection was restricted to the intestine and of shorter duration than primary infection. Splenic immune responses were not further enhanced by secondary infection; indeed, antigen-specific proliferation was significantly reduced at 1 day after secondary infection, which may be interpreted as the trafficking of reactive T cells from the spleen to the gut.