Prakas Petras, Šukytė Tautvilė, Juozaitytė-Ngugu Evelina, Butkauskas Dalius
Laboratory of Molecular Ecology, Nature Research Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania.
Front Vet Sci. 2025 Jul 22;12:1568013. doi: 10.3389/fvets.2025.1568013. eCollection 2025.
The genus comprises a diverse group of apicomplexan parasites that infect reptiles, birds, and mammals. They are characterized by the formation of sarcocysts in the muscles of the intermediate host and the development of sporocysts in the intestines of the definitive host. Raptors usually act as definitive hosts for numerous species; however there is a lack of studies on in the muscles of raptorial birds. Therefore, we aimed to assess infection rates and identify species in the muscles of raptors in Lithuania.
Muscle samples from 90 raptors (Accipitriformes, Falconiformes, and Strigiformes) were collected throughout Lithuania and analyzed for spp. Sarcocysts isolated from fresh methylene blue-stained muscle samples were identified using the internal transcribed spacer region 1 sequence genetic marker.
Under the light microscope, sarcocysts were detected in 8.9% (8/90) of the raptors examined. Sarcocysts were found in the leg muscles of common buzzards (), tawny owls (), and a long-eared owl (); neck muscles of a Eurasian goshawk (), rough-legged buzzard (), and long-eared owl; and thoracic muscles of a rough-legged buzzard. We observed no sarcocysts in the cardiac muscles. Representatives of one species, . were molecularly identified in seven birds.
This is the first study to report five new intermediate hosts for . . Further investigations are needed to assess the possible pathogenicity of . in extra-intestinal organs of raptors.
该属包含多种顶复门寄生虫，可感染爬行动物、鸟类和哺乳动物。它们的特征是在中间宿主的肌肉中形成肉孢子虫囊，在终末宿主的肠道中发育孢子囊。猛禽通常是许多该属物种的终末宿主；然而，关于猛禽鸟类肌肉中的该属寄生虫却缺乏研究。因此，我们旨在评估立陶宛猛禽肌肉中的感染率并鉴定该属物种。
在立陶宛各地收集了90只猛禽（鹰形目、隼形目和鸮形目）的肌肉样本，并分析其中的该属寄生虫种类。从新鲜的经亚甲蓝染色的肌肉样本中分离出的肉孢子虫囊，使用内部转录间隔区1序列遗传标记进行鉴定。
在光学显微镜下，在所检查的8.9%（8/90）的猛禽中检测到肉孢子虫囊。在普通鵟（）、仓鸮（）和一只长耳鸮的腿部肌肉中发现了肉孢子虫囊；在一只欧亚苍鹰（）、毛脚鵟（）和长耳鸮的颈部肌肉中发现了肉孢子虫囊；在一只毛脚鵟的胸肌中发现了肉孢子虫囊。在心肌中未观察到肉孢子虫囊。在七只鸟中通过分子方法鉴定出一种该属物种的代表。
这是首次报告该属寄生虫的五个新中间宿主的研究。需要进一步研究以评估该属寄生虫在猛禽肠外器官中的可能致病性。
