Hiob Lysanne, Koethe M, Schares G, Goroll T, Daugschies A, Bangoura B
Institute of Parasitology, Centre for Infectious Diseases, University Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 35, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Institute of Food Hygiene, Centre for Veterinary Public Health, University Leipzig, An den Tierkliniken 1, 04103, Leipzig, Germany.
Parasitol Res. 2017 Nov;116(11):3189-3203. doi: 10.1007/s00436-017-5636-2. Epub 2017 Oct 5.
The widespread apicomplexan parasites Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) and Eimeria tenella (E. tenella) are important pathogens with high prevalence in poultry. The aim of our study was the investigation of mutual influences in co-infected chickens, focusing on immune response and course of infection. Two separate trials were performed using in total 96 1-day-old chickens, divided into four study groups: group NC (negative control, uninfected), group PC-T (oral or intramuscular infection with T. gondii oocysts (trial 1) or tachyzoites (trial 2), respectively), group PC-E (oral infection with E. tenella (trial 1) or E. tenella and Eimeria acervulina (trial 2)), and group TE (co-infection). T. gondii and Eimeria infections were validated by different parameters, and cytokine expression in the gut and spleen was investigated. T. gondii-specific antibodies were detected earliest 4 days post infection (p.i.) by immunoblot and direct DNA detection was possible in 22.1% of all tissue samples from infected chickens. Eimeria spp. merogony seemed to be enhanced by co-infection with T. gondii, interestingly without marked differences in oocyst excretion between co-infected and Eimeria spp. mono-infected chickens. An increase of messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of Th1- (IFN-γ, IL-12, TNF-α) and Th2-related cytokines (IL-10) mainly in groups PC-E and TE was observed, however, without statistically significant differences between co-infection and single infection with Eimeria. In conclusion, most of the measurable immune response could be attributed to Eimeria infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on co-infection experiments of T. gondii with Eimeria spp. in chickens.
广泛存在的顶复门寄生虫刚地弓形虫（T. gondii）和柔嫩艾美耳球虫（E. tenella）是在家禽中高流行率的重要病原体。我们研究的目的是调查共感染鸡中的相互影响，重点是免疫反应和感染过程。使用总共96只1日龄鸡进行了两项独立试验，分为四个研究组：NC组（阴性对照，未感染）、PC-T组（分别通过口服或肌肉注射感染刚地弓形虫卵囊（试验1）或速殖子（试验2））、PC-E组（口服感染柔嫩艾美耳球虫（试验1）或柔嫩艾美耳球虫和堆型艾美耳球虫（试验2））以及TE组（共感染）。通过不同参数验证了刚地弓形虫和艾美耳球虫感染，并研究了肠道和脾脏中的细胞因子表达。感染后最早4天通过免疫印迹检测到刚地弓形虫特异性抗体，并且在来自感染鸡的所有组织样本中有22.1%可以进行直接DNA检测。与刚地弓形虫共感染似乎增强了艾美耳球虫属的裂殖生殖，有趣的是，共感染鸡和艾美耳球虫属单感染鸡之间的卵囊排泄没有明显差异。主要在PC-E组和TE组中观察到Th1（IFN-γ、IL-12、TNF-α）和Th2相关细胞因子（IL-10）的信使核糖核酸（mRNA）表达增加，然而，共感染和艾美耳球虫单感染之间没有统计学上的显著差异。总之，大多数可测量的免疫反应可归因于艾美耳球虫感染。据我们所知，这是关于刚地弓形虫与艾美耳球虫属在鸡中共感染实验的首次报告。
