Evaluating porcine red blood cells in acute African swine fever virus (genotype II) infection in peripheral blood

Abstract

It has been previously shown that acute ASFV infection cause significant alterations in the population of white blood cells. Thus, it has been assumed that ASFV disrupts hematopoietic homeostasis through unknown mechanism. To test this assumption, we have conducted this study to evaluate the changes of red blood cells (RBCs) in peripheral blood during experimental African swine fever virus infection. Our data show that as acute ASFV infection progressed, the percent of mature erythrocytes (with normal size) gradually decreased. Simultaneously, the number of microcytes (sized 5 µm or smaller in diameter) increased, reaching 20% of all RBCs by 5 day post-infection. From the beginning of infection, juvenile forms of RBCs, such as the largest cells of erythron, rubriblasts, were observed in the peripheral blood of infected pigs. Among the erythroid precursors, up to 60% of all cells were binucleated, which indicates that acute ASFV infection is accompanied with the emergence of pathological forms of RBCs. Our findings show that ASFV affects the erythropoiesis, and justify further investigations to determine how ASFV interferes in erythropoiesis.