Presence of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) proviral DNA in genital tract tissues of superovulated dairy goat does

Transmission of caprine arthritis-encephalitis virus (CAEV) is not completely understood and the vertical route of infection from the goat to the embryo or to the fetus needs to be investigated. This route of infection involves the presence of CAEV in the genital tract tissues. Prior studies have detected CAEV-infected cells in genital secretions and in flushing media recovered during embryo collection from infected goats. To specify the origin of these cells, we conducted a double-nested polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test on embryo flushing media and on mammary gland, mammary lymph node, synovial membrane, pelvic lymph node, uterus and oviduct tissues from 25 CAEV-infected (blood PCR positive) embryo donor goats for the presence of CAEV proviral DNA. The presence of proviral DNA was found in 22 of 25 mammary gland samples, 14 of 25 uterus samples, and in 16 of 25 oviduct samples. Nineteen of 25 goats had at least one positive genital tract sample. Flushing media from I I goats were PCR positive. All goats with positive-flushing media were oviduct positive. Of this group of does, except for I of the 11, infection of flushing media correlated with infection of almost all the other tissues examined. The frequency of positive tissues for flushing media-positive goats (61/66; 92%) was significantly higher than that for flushing media-negative goats (50/84; 60%) (P < 0.01). This study demonstrated the presence of CAEV-infected cells in the goat genital tract. The presence of CAEV-infected cells in the uterus and oviducts suggests potential for vertical transmission of CAEV from doe to embryo or fetus. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science Inc. All rights reserved.