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The Parasite's Way of Life
Published in Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin, Parasitology, 2023
Eric S. Loker, Bruce V. Hofkin
Eukaryotic parasites may also be transmitted via sexual contact. Trypanosoma equiperdum, the causative agent of dourine, a disease of equines, is an example. Another example is provided by Tritrichomonas foetus, a flagellated protozoan parasite that can cause serious disease in cattle. The parasite generally resides in the foreskin of bulls, in which symptoms are usually unapparent. When transferred to the female reproductive tract, however, it can cause uterine infection (pyometra), infertility and spontaneous abortion. In the past, this parasite imposed a large financial burden on the cattle industry. In recent years, the number of cases has declined as the use of artificial insemination has increased. Remarkably, however, it is now considered to be an emerging pathogen in cats, where it can cause chronic diarrhea. Unlike in cattle, it inhabits the intestinal tract and is excreted in the feces.
In vivo activity and atom pair fingerprint analysis of MMV665941 against the apicomplexan parasite Babesia microti, the causative agent of babesiosis in humans and rodents
Published in Pathogens and Global Health, 2023
Mohamed Abdo Rizk, Shimaa Abd El-Salam El-Sayed, Ikuo Igarashi
MMV665941 was also found to be effective against some strains of Perkinsus marinus, a major protozoal disease of oysters, however the efficiency was not uniform across all strains of the parasite [23]. Brugia malayi and B. pahangi, as well as Cryptosporidium, Tritrichomonas foetus trophozoites, and Trypanosoma cruzi, have all been proven to be susceptible to this chemical [24–27]. MMV665941 has a structural similarity to gentian violet. In addition to being utilized as a mold inhibitor in feed components, gentian violet has been employed in human medicine for illnesses with a variety of bacteria [28]. In the United States, however, gentian violet is strictly prohibited for use in any food animal [29]. Interestingly, there have been few grounds given for the gentian violet prohibition, other than the FDA’s statement that the impact of drug residues on human health has not been sufficiently studied [29].
Invariant natural killer T cells minimally influence gut microbiota composition in mice
Published in Gut Microbes, 2022
Qiaochu Lin, Meggie Kuypers, Zhewei Liu, Julia K Copeland, Donny Chan, Susan J Robertson, Jean Kontogiannis, David S Guttman, E. Kate Banks, Dana J Philpott, Thierry Mallevaey
Outbred CD-1 female mice were used as surrogate mothers and housed under barrier conditions within a designated quarantine suite within the Division of Comparative Medicine. CD1d−/− mice were transferred to quarantine and timed pregnancies were set. Pregnant females were transferred into clean autoclaved cages 2 days prior to delivery. Within 24 h of birth, pups were placed on warm and wet PREempt wipes on a heating pad and under a heating lamp in a biosafety cabinet for 2 min. Pups were then placed with surrogate outbred female mice that had littered within the past 5 days (all outbred pups but one were removed). Fecal pellets were collected from cages housing cross-fostered pups for PCR testing to confirm the elimination of Helicobacter spp., MNV and Tritrichomonas. These CD1d−/− mice were then bred with C57BL/6 mice to generate CD1d+/− mice. This colony was maintained as CD1d+/− x CD1d+/− breeding pairs housed in barrier conditions in the suite designated with eSPF status. After breeding CD1d+/− mice together for 5 generations, CD1d+/+, CD1d+/− and CD1d−/− littermate mice were used for our studies.
Latent Upregulation of Nlrp3, Nlrc4 and Aim2 Differentiates between Asymptomatic and Symptomatic Trichomonas vaginalis Infection
Published in Immunological Investigations, 2022
Sonal Yadav, Vivek Verma, Rakesh Singh Dhanda, Sumeeta Khurana, Manisha Yadav
However, the role of NLRs like NLRC4 and AIM2 (non NLR) in protozoan infections is poorly studied. Double-stranded (ds-DNA) is the ligand for its activation, but recent studies reported that nuclear, mitochondrial, and exogenous DNA also activates AIM2 inflammasome (Broz and Dixit 2016). Some studies reported abrupt methylation or no methylation of mt-DNA, which leads to AIM2 activation (Hong et al. 2013; Mankan et al. 2014; Riley and Tait 2020). Activation of NLRP3 facilitates mitochondrial dysfunction, leading to excessive ROS production resulting from its disruption and release of mt-DNA in the cytoplasm (Nakahira et al. 2011; Zhou et al. 2011). From these studies, we have hypothesized that T. vaginalis here might activate AIM2 expression. Although NLRC4 expression was poorly studied in protozoan infection, few studies have reported its expression like upregulation of NLRC4 gene in T. gondii infected human fetal small intestinal epithelial cell line (FHs 74 Int cells) and THP-1 macrophages (Chu et al. 2016; Quan et al. 2018). Tritrichomonas musculis (a protozoan) interacts with the epithelial layer of the host and activates the inflammasomes to induce IL-18 release (Chudnovskiy et al. 2016). Based on these studies, we have hypothesized that T. vaginalis here might activate AIM2 expression, and we have also investigated NLRC4 expression.