Intranasal Peste des petits ruminants virus vaccination of goats using Irvingia gabonensis gum as delivery system: hematological and humoral immune responses.

Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) in Africa continues to defy conventional vaccinational approaches aimed at its control. There is need for route modification and immunopotentiation of the current vaccination methods, using easily affordable materials. This study evaluates the immunomodulatory potential of Irvingia gabonensis (IG) seed gum extract for intranasal PPR vaccination in goats using attenuated Nigeria 75/1 PPR vaccine. Twenty West African dwarf goats were divided into four groups (n=5). Group 1 was vaccinated intranasally using IG gum as vehicle; Group 2 was vaccinated intranasally without the gum; Group 3 via subcutaneous injection while Group 4 was not vaccinated. Hematology and Serum IgG levels were assessed weekly for 28 days post vaccination (dpv). H-PPR bELISA detected antibodies against PPR by 7th dpv, peaking by 21st dpv with mean percentage inhibitions of 78.2%; 69.6%; 87.0% and 0% in Groups 1, 2, 3 and 4, respectively. Also, significantly lower neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (P<0.05) were observed by 14th dpv to 28th dpv in the vaccinated groups. The findings of this study show that the use of I. gabonensis seed gum extract for mucoadhesive intranasal PPR vaccine delivery has an immunomodulatory effect on the systemic immune response following PPR intranasal vaccine administration.