It is well known that camels are resistant to many infectious diseases; they are able to adapt themselves in the very harsh nutritional and environmental conditions. As one of the main sources of antimicrobial substances, neutrophils are critical for phagocytosis and killing of microbs for protection of animals against invading pathogens. Despite of their importance, there are many unknown phenomena about neutrophils and leukocytes in domestic animals, especially in camels. The main purpose of this study was to bring some new concepts in order to accelerate more fundamental and applied research on innate immunity in camelids. This research study is based on our preliminary data on bovine and camel neutrophils functions. Our previous study on bovine innate immunity reveals that neutrophils functions are influenced by many physiological and pathological status of animals. This comparative study on the antimicrobial substances such as free radicals produced by blood neutrophils show that following neutrophils stimulation superoxide anion production in camel neutrophils is significantly higher than their counterpart in bovine, supporting the concept that “camel innate immunity and neutrophils functions are exceptional among domestic animals”. As the cascade of free radicals production by neutrophils is influenced by many enzymes and substrates on the cells, our study emphasize the notion that the activity of some key enzymes such as NADPH-oxidase, protein kinase C and myeloperoxidase might differ between bovine and camelids. Further detailed studies on cellular and molecular aspects of camel neutrophils are in progress in our laboratories to explain these findings.

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