Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Daniel K. Inouye College of Pharmacy, University of Hawaii at Hilo, Hilo, HI, USA.
USDA APHIS Wildlife Services, National Wildlife Research Center, Hawaii Field Station, Hilo, HI, USA.
Parasitology. 2019 Sep;146(11):1421-1428. doi: 10.1017/S0031182019000908. Epub 2019 Jul 31.
Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a pathogenic nematode and the cause of neuroangiostrongyliasis, an eosinophilic meningitis more commonly known as rat lungworm disease. Transmission is thought to be primarily due to ingestion of infective third stage larvae (L3) in gastropods, on produce, or in contaminated water. The gold standard to determine the effects of physical and chemical treatments on the infectivity of A. cantonensis L3 larvae is to infect rodents with treated L3 larvae and monitor for infection, but animal studies are laborious and expensive and also raise ethical concerns. This study demonstrates propidium iodide (PI) to be a reliable marker of parasite death and loss of infective potential without adversely affecting the development and future reproduction of live A. cantonensis larvae. PI staining allows evaluation of the efficacy of test substances in vitro, an improvement upon the use of lack of motility as an indicator of death. Some potential applications of this assay include determining the effectiveness of various anthelmintics, vegetable washes, electromagnetic radiation and other treatments intended to kill larvae in the prevention and treatment of neuroangiostrongyliasis.
广州管圆线虫是一种致病性线虫，也是嗜酸性脑膜炎（更为人所知的是鼠肺虫病）的病原体。人们认为传播主要是由于摄入了在腹足类动物、农产品或受污染的水中的感染性第三期幼虫（L3）。确定物理和化学处理对广州管圆线虫 L3 幼虫感染力的影响的金标准是用处理过的 L3 幼虫感染啮齿动物并监测感染情况，但动物研究既费力又昂贵，并且还引起了伦理问题。本研究表明，碘化丙啶（PI）是寄生虫死亡和丧失感染潜力的可靠标志物，而不会对活的广州管圆线虫幼虫的发育和未来繁殖产生不利影响。PI 染色可评估测试物质在体外的功效，优于使用缺乏运动性作为死亡指标。该测定法的一些潜在应用包括确定各种驱虫药、蔬菜清洗剂、电磁辐射和其他旨在杀死幼虫的治疗方法在预防和治疗嗜酸性脑膜炎方面的效果。
