Food Science and Engineering College of Inner Mongolia Agricultural University, 010018, Hohhot, China.
PLoS One. 2023 Aug 17;18(8):e0283867. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0283867. eCollection 2023.
Toxoplasma gondii (T. gondii) is a zoonotic parasite that can cause serious pathology in intermediate hosts such as humans and animals. Eating undercooked or raw meat is the most important route of infection by T. gondii. Sheep are an important source of meat worldwide, and they are also susceptible to T. gondii. Mutton infected with T. gondii poses a serious threat to the food safety of consumers. At present, studies have mainly focused on the infection ratio of T. gondii in livestock; however, systematic studies have not been performed on differences in the distribution of this parasite in different muscle and viscera tissues of animals. In this study, the differences in the distribution of T. gondii in naturally infected Small-tailed Han sheep was studied. By amplifying the B1 gene of the parasite via real-time fluorescence quantification PCR (RT‒qPCR), we found that the parasite burden of T. gondii differed among different parts of the sheep, with the highest burden observed in the heart among the viscera and the external ridge among the muscle. The relative expression was ranked from high to low in our study as follows: heart, spleen, external ridge, tenderloin, lung, liver, kidney, neck meat, forelegs, cucumber strips, hind leg, lamb belly, and lamb chops. This study provided important guidance for monitoring the food safety of mutton products.
刚地弓形虫（Toxoplasma gondii）是一种动物源性寄生虫，可导致人类和动物等中间宿主发生严重的病理变化。食用未煮熟或生的肉类是感染刚地弓形虫最重要的途径。绵羊是全球重要的肉类来源，它们也容易感染刚地弓形虫。感染刚地弓形虫的羊肉对消费者的食品安全构成严重威胁。目前，研究主要集中在刚地弓形虫在牲畜中的感染率上；然而，对于该寄生虫在动物不同肌肉和内脏组织中的分布差异，尚未进行系统研究。本研究旨在研究自然感染小尾寒羊的刚地弓形虫的分布差异。通过实时荧光定量 PCR（RT-qPCR）扩增寄生虫的 B1 基因，我们发现刚地弓形虫在绵羊不同部位的感染负荷存在差异，在脏器中以心脏的感染负荷最高，在肌肉中以外脊的感染负荷最高。本研究中相对表达量从高到低依次为：心脏、脾脏、外脊、里脊、肺脏、肝脏、肾脏、颈肉、前腿、黄瓜条、后腿、羊肚子、羊排。本研究为监测羊肉产品的食品安全提供了重要指导。
