Biotechnology Department, Animal Health Research Institute, Dokki, 12618, Egypt.
Parasitology Department, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Kafrelsheikh University, Kafr El-Sheikh, 33516, Egypt.
BMC Vet Res. 2022 Dec 12;18(1):432. doi: 10.1186/s12917-022-03526-8.
Strongylid and non-strongylid nematodes are one of the most important parasites infecting equines. The traditional method to identify these nematodes is through coproscopy and fecal culture. Because of the scarcity of data published in Egypt discussing the morphometric features of infective 3 larvae of these nematodes, this study aims to provide a morphometric key for L3 of common strongylid and non-strongylid nematodes infecting Egyptian equines. For this reason, we cultured fecal samples containing GINs eggs and 3 larval stages were identified based on their morphology (i.e., shape and number of intestinal cells (IC), shape of the esophagus, and shape of the tail sheath) in addition to computing their dimensions (i.e., length of larvae with sheath, length of the esophagus, length of intestinal cells, and body breadth). We identified 3 larval stages of four strongylid nematodes (Cyathostomum sensu lato, Strongylus vulgaris, Strongylus equinus, and Strongylus edentatus) as well as two non-strongylid nematodes (Strongyloides westeri, and Trichostrongylus axei). Statistically, our results revealed significant differences in terms of total length, body width, esophagus length, and gut length among 3 larvae identified in the current study. The combination of both morphological and metric keys will allow the better identification of common strongylid and non-strongylid nematodes infecting equines.
马的重要寄生线虫包括圆线虫和非圆线虫。传统的鉴定方法是通过粪便检查和粪便培养。由于埃及发表的关于这些线虫感染性 3 期幼虫形态特征的资料稀缺，本研究旨在为感染埃及马属动物的常见圆线虫和非圆线虫的 3 期幼虫提供形态学特征鉴定方法。为此，我们培养了含有 GIN 卵的粪便样本，并根据幼虫的形态（即肠细胞的形状和数量（IC）、食道的形状和尾鞘的形状）以及计算其尺寸（即鞘内幼虫的长度、食道的长度、肠细胞的长度和体宽）来鉴定 3 期幼虫。我们鉴定出了 4 种圆线虫（Cyathostomum sensu lato、Strongylus vulgaris、Strongylus equinus 和 Strongylus edentatus）和 2 种非圆线虫（Strongyloides westeri 和 Trichostrongylus axei）的 3 期幼虫。统计结果显示，在所研究的 3 期幼虫中，总长度、体宽、食道长度和肠长存在显著差异。形态学和度量学特征鉴定方法的结合将有助于更好地鉴定感染马属动物的常见圆线虫和非圆线虫。
