Peer-reviewed veterinary case report
Characteristics of a recent isolate of Sarcocystis neurona (SN7) from a horse and loss of pathogenicity of isolates SN6 and SN7 by passages in cell culture.
- Journal:
- Veterinary parasitology
- Year:
- 2001
- Authors:
- Dubey, J P et al.
- Affiliation:
- United States Department of Agriculture · United States
- Species:
- horse
Plain-English summary
Researchers studied a type of parasite called Sarcocystis neurona (SN7) that was taken from the spinal cord of a horse showing signs of neurological problems. They grew the parasite in lab cultures using cells from cows and horses, and found that it could reproduce in these cultures within three days. After keeping the parasite in the lab for ten months, it no longer caused illness in specially modified mice. However, an earlier version of the parasite, stored for a year and a half, still made some of the mice sick. This study suggests that keeping certain strains of this parasite in lab cultures for a long time may reduce their ability to cause disease.
Abstract
An isolate of Sarcocystis neurona (SN7) was obtained from the spinal cord of a horse with neurologic signs. The parasite was isolated in cultures of bovine monocytes and equine spleen cells. The organism divided by endopolygeny and completed at least one asexual cycle in cell cultures in 3 days. The parasite was maintained by subpassages in bovine monocytes for 10 months when it was found to be non-pathogenic to gamma interferon knockout (KO) mice. Revival of a low passage (10th passage) of the initial isolate stored in liquid nitrogen for 18 months retained its pathogenicity for KO mice. Merozoites (10(6)) of the late passage (22nd passage) were infective to only one of four KO mice inoculated. Similar results were obtained with SN6 isolate of S. neurona. No differences were found in Western blot patterns using antigens from the low and high passage merozoites of the SN7 and SN6 isolates. These results suggest that prolonged passage in cell culture may affect the pathogenicity of some isolates of S. neurona.
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Search related cases →Original publication: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11223196/