Multidisciplinary approach to Cheetahs affected by gastrointestinal disease: study of the immune profile and of the fecal proteome

“One Health” concept links human health, animal health and the environment with a great potential to mutually influence the health of all species. Infectious diseases associated with wildlife can worse negative public perceptions of wild animals and public support for conservation requiring conscientious effort and urgency to avoid an undesirable outcome 2 . The exponential growth of the human population led to ecologic drastic changes related to human encroachment on wildlife habitats 3 . During the 20th century, growth of human population, invasion of wildlife habitats, changes in agricultural practices, domestication of wild animals and ecotourism have damaged the conservation of wildlife 4,5 . Establishing and maintaining protected areas are key tools for biodiversity conservation. However, this approach is insufficient for wide-ranging species. Protected areas, created for conservation purposes, do not always adequately conserve biodiversity, many terrestrial protected areas within human-dominated systems are isolated from one another increasing the risk of species extinctions 6 . The relationship between isolation and extinction is the basis of the “metapopulation theory” that many spatially distinct subpopulations reconnected by movement of individuals, leading to genetic exchange and the possibility of re- establishing extirpated subpopulations 7 . Numerous emerging infectious diseases have arisen from, or have been identified in, wildlife with implications for human health. For this reason, wildlife conservation can be considered an important resource of protection8 . Since 1960 the IUCN Red List has made multiple lists for a compendium of animals and plants conservation. To date, more than 134000 species have been assessed for The IUCN Red List, of these 26% are mammals 9 . In thisthesis, different aspectsrelated to an animal classified as vulnerable by the IUCN Red List, the cheetah, will be focused. The aim is to investigate the gastrointestinal physiopathology of cheetahs, with a morbidity rate of 95% in captive animals, correlating it with the immune response. Different studies compared diseases in captive and free-ranging cheetahs showing the prevalence of stress-induced pathologies 10. The reduction of the population has led several cheetahs to be housed in zoos, in conditions that do not allow carrying the physiological behaviors of the species 10. For this reason, some pathologies are defined as probably stress-induced. The present research project is based on a multidisciplinary approach to the physiopathology of “cheetahs” GI diseases. In the first part of the study, starting from a common viral disease of cats (feline infectious peritonitis - FIP) in which the immune system plays a key role in disease progression, methods of monocytes’ isolation from peripheral blood were investigated, and then macrophages were studied regarding phagocytosis and respiratory burst activities. The method was firstly performed from samples of cats with feline infectious peritonitis (FIP) and cats’ samples positive for Feline coronavirus but not FIP, and then performing the same evaluations in samples from healthy cheetahs and from subjects with GI disease associated to Helicobacter spp. In the second part of project, the study of the cytokines profile on the same samples was performed, comparing results between animal populations (healthy vs diseased cheetahs). In the third line of research, fecal proteomics to investigate possible differences in healthy and diseased cheetahs was performed.