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Title: EARLY MIGRATION OF SARCOCYSTIS NEURONA IN PONIES FED SPOROCYSTS

Author
item ELITSUR, E - OHIO STATE U COLUMBUS
item MARSH, A - OHIO STATE U COLUMBUS
item REED, S - OHIO STATE U COLUMBUS
item Dubey, Jitender
item OGLESBEE, M - OHIO STATE U COLUMBUS
item MURPHY, J - OHIO STATE U COLUMBUS
item SAVILLE, W J - OHIO STATE U COLUMBUS

Submitted to: Journal of Parasitology
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 6/6/2006
Publication Date: 12/10/2007
Citation: Elitsur, E., Marsh, A.E., Reed, S.M., Dubey, J.P., Oglesbee, M.J., Murphy, J.E., Saville, W.A. 2007. Early migration of Sarcocystis neurona in ponies fed sporocysts. Journal of Parasitology. 93:1222-1225.

Interpretive Summary: Sarcocystis species are single celled parasites that cause illness in humans and livestock. Humans can become infected with this parasite by ingesting infected pork and beef. Cattle and pigs can become infected by ingesting food and water contaminated with the resistant parasite stages excreted in feces of infected humans.Many species of Sacrcocystis are pathogenic to animals.Sarcocystis neurona causes a fatal disease in horses and other animals. Scientists at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center and the Ohio State University report the pathway for early migration of S. neurona in experimentally infected horses.parrott.The results will be of interest to biologists, parasitologists, and veterinarians.

Technical Abstract: Sarcocystis neurona is the most important cause of equine protozoal myeloencephalitis (EPM), a neurologic disease of the horse. In the present work, the kinetics of S. neurona invasion is determined in the equine model. Six ponies were orally inoculated with 250 x 106 S. neurona sporocysts via nasogastric intubation and killed on days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, and 9 post-inoculation (PI). At necropsy, tissue samples were examined for S. neurona infection. The parasite was isolated from the mesenteric lymph nodes at 1, 2, and 7 days PI, the liver at 2, 5, and 7 days PI, and the lungs at 5, 7, and 9 days PI by bioassays in interferon gamma gene knock out mice (KO) and from cell culture. Microscopic lesions consistent with an EPM infection were observed in brain and spinal cord of ponies killed 7 and 9 days PI. Results suggest that S. neurona disseminates quickly in tissue of naïve ponies.