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ARS Home » Pacific West Area » Pullman, Washington » Animal Disease Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #151149
Title: SARCOCYSTIS NEURONA:PARASITEMIA IN A SEVERE COMBINED IMMUNODEFICIENT(SCID)HORSE FED SPOROCYSTS

Author
item LONG, MAUREEN - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item MINES, MELISSA - WASHINGTON STATE UNIV
item Knowles Jr, Donald
item TANHAUSER, SUSAN - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item DAME, JOHN - UNIVERSITY OF FLORIDA
item CUTLER, TIMOTHY - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item MACKAY, ROBERT - UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA
item SELLON, DEBRA - WASHINGTON STATE UNIV

Submitted to: Experimental Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 3/7/2002
Publication Date: 3/7/2002
Citation: Experimental Parasitology 100 (2002) 150-154

Interpretive Summary: Sarcocystis neurona is the cause a major disease of the central nervous system of horses. SCID foals lack adaptive immune responses, i.e. they aren't capable of recognizing invading microorganisms. This report establishs the SCID foal as a model to study the methods in which S. neurona causes disease and death in horses, potentially aiding in diagnosis and treatment.

Technical Abstract: Sarcocystis neurona was isolated from the blood of a 5-month-old Arabian foal with severe combined inlmunodeficiency. The foal had been inoculated approxinlately 3 weeks previously with 5 x 105 sporocysts that were isolated from the intestines of an opossum and identified by restriction enzyme analysis of PCR products as S. neurona. The isolate obtained from the blood of this foal was characterized by genetic, serologic, and morphologic methods and identified as S. neurona (WSU1). This represents the first time that S. neurona has been isolated from any tissue after experimental infection of a horse. This is also the first time a parasitemia has been detected during either natural or experimental infection. The severe combined immunodeficiency foal model provides a unique opportunity to study the pathogenesis of S. neurona infection in horses and to determine the role of the immune system in the control of infection with and development of neurologic disease.