A dataset of chick’s quality with intestinal and blood immunity parameters to assess animal robustness

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The dataset contains measurements from twenty chicks: body weight (“BW”, in g), quality score at hatch (“QS0”), at day one (“QS1”) and at day seven (“QS7”) of age. Furthermore, it gives measurements (at age of seven days) of avian defensin 2 (AvBD2) content in the caecum (“% AvBD2+ caecal area”), and of blood serum concentration of immunoglobulins (IgA in µg/mL, IgG in mg/mL, and IgM in µg/mL). Chicks (ten per line) were either from line Ross 308 (fast growing; “Standard”), or from line JA657 (slow growing; “Label”). The challenge of increased temperature (25°C, 30 min) and shaking (30 min) during transport and of delayed (24h) feeding after hatch was applied to all chicks. Quality score was measured according to the method of Tona K et al (DOI: 10.1093/ps/82.5.736; PMID: 12762394). AvBD2 content (“% AvBD2+ caecal area”) was determined in caecal tonsils at day 7 of age by immuno-histo-chemistry (IHC). Briefly, IHC was performed from fixed tissue cut in three slices (5 mm each) placed in histology cassettes for progressive dehydration before inclusion in paraffin. Serial sections (5 µm thickness) of tissue were deposited on glass slides. After paraffin removal, intestinal tissue’s endogenous peroxidase was inhibited before saturation with goat serum. Primary rabbit anti-AvBD2 antibody obtained after 87 days immunization protocol (Eurogentec) with AvBD2 full-length peptide available at the laboratory (DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00301-09; PMID: 19738012) was used to label tissue sections. Peroxidase conjugated goat anti-rabbit Ig was used as secondary antibody, and peroxidase substrate containing diaminobenzidine was used to reveal labeling. Counter-staining was performed with hematoxyline solution according to Harris (Papanicolaou reagent). Final dehydration was followed by mounting before observation using microscope Eclipse 80i equipped with a camera (Nikon Instruments Europe BV). Representative images from 10 slides per animal were analyzed by Image J (Fiji) software to quantify percent area of the labeled section (brown staining). Blood collected at the age of seven days allowed to measure serum Ig concentrations in duplicates by ELISA method. The main results obtained were presented as a poster at the 2022 annual scientific meeting of the INRAE Department of Animal Health (18-20 October 2022, Anglet, France). The poster is accessible at HAL open science (https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-03847863). The dataset has been obtained during the project “Chick’Tip” (coordinator: Angelique Travel, ITAVI; grant CASDAR 2018-2022, Ministère de l’Agriculture et de l’Alimentation, France). The dataset also contains associated files describing the antibodies used for AvBD2 and AvBD7 measurement : materials and methods of characterization by western blot and by ELISA. The results obtained by western blot for each defensin are given as raw images and as a figure A.The results obtained for each defensin by ELISA are given as raw tables and as figure B. These data have been obtained during the project mentioned above and during the project "Providefense" (coordinator Anne-Christine Lalmanach; grant Prematuration INRAE 2018-2020, final scientific report available in French at https://hal.inrae.fr/hal-04188500).