There is growing evidence that inflammation underpins many common diseases. Inflammatory/immunomodulatory/immune mediators, such as cytokines, are key modulators of inflammation and mediate both immune cell recruitment and complex intracellular signalling pathways. Ovine models of disease are increasingly utilized in pre-clinical research, however existing methods for measuring cytokine levels are limited. We established and validated enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays (ELISAs) targeting interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 in sheep plasma. These ELISAs showed high sensitivity and specificity with intra- and inter-assay CV's below 10%, and recovery rates between 82 and 123%. Sensitivity for IL-1β, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10 were 117.6 pg/mL, 443.1 pg/mL, 30.9 pg/mL, and 64.3 pg/mL, respectively. ELISA test result reproducibility decreased significantly after 12 weeks of plasma storage at −80 °C. Therefore, for accurate cytokine measurements, plasma samples need to be tested within three months of sample collection to account for cytokine protein degradation. These ELISAs offer a reliable and convenient method to identify inflammatory cytokine changes in sheep, allowing key insights into the disease pathogenesis of these ruminants.

越来越多的证据表明，炎症是许多常见疾病的基础。炎性/免疫调节/免疫介质，例如细胞因子，是炎症的关键调节剂，并介导免疫细胞募集和复杂的细胞内信号通路。在临床前研究中越来越多地使用疾病的绵羊模型，但是用于测量细胞因子水平的现有方法受到限制。我们建立并验证了针对绵羊血浆中白介素（IL）-1β，IL-6，IL-8和IL-10的酶联免疫吸附测定（ELISA）。这些酶联免疫吸附测定法（ELISA）显示出较高的灵敏度和特异性，测定内和测定间CV低于10％，回收率在82％至123％之间。对IL-1β，IL-6，IL-8和IL-10的敏感性分别为117.6 pg / mL，443.1 pg / mL，30.9 pg / mL和64.3 pg / mL。在-80°C下保存12周后，ELISA测试结果的可重复性显着降低。因此，为了进行准确的细胞因子测量，需要在采样后的三个月内对血浆样品进行测试，以说明细胞因子蛋白的降解情况。这些ELISA提供了一种可靠，方便的方法来鉴定绵羊的炎症细胞因子变化，从而可以深入了解这些反刍动物的发病机理。