Abstract:
Leishmania, the dixenous trypanosomatid parasites, are the causative agents of leishmaniasis currently divided into four subgenera: Leishmania, Viannia, Sauroleishmania, and the recently described Mundinia, consisting of six species distributed sporadically all over the world infecting humans and/or animals. These parasites infect various mammalian species and also cause serious human diseases, but their reservoirs are unknown. Thus, adequate laboratory models are needed to enable proper research of Mundinia parasites. In this complex study, we compared experimental infections of five Mundinia species (L. enriettii, L. macropodum, L. chancei, L. orientalis, and four strains of L. martiniquensis) in three rodent species: BALB/c mouse, Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus) and steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus). Culture-derived parasites were inoculated intradermally into the ear pinnae and progress of infection was monitored for 20 weeks, when the tissues and organs of animals were screened for the presence and quantity of Leishmania. Xenodiagnoses with Phlebotomus duboscqi were performed at weeks 5, 10, 15 and 20 post-infection to test the infectiousness of the animals throughout the experiment. BALB/c mice showed no signs of infection and were not infectious to sand flies, while Chinese hamsters and steppe lemmings proved susceptible to all five species of Mundinia tested, showing a wide spectrum of disease signs ranging from asymptomatic to visceral. Mundinia induced significantly higher infection rates in steppe lemmings compared to Chinese hamsters, and consequently steppe lemmings were more infectious to sand flies: In all groups tested, they were infectious from the 5th to the 20th week post infection. In conclusion, we identified two rodent species, Chinese hamster (Cricetulus griseus) and steppe lemming (Lagurus lagurus), as candidates for laboratory models for Mundinia allowing detailed studies of these enigmatic parasites. Furthermore, the long-term survival of all Mundinia species in steppe lemmings and their infectiousness to vectors support the hypothesis that some rodents have the potential to serve as reservoir hosts for Mundinia.
摘要:
利什曼原虫,异种锥虫寄生虫,是利什曼病的病原体,目前分为四个亚属:利什曼病,Viannia,Sauroleishmania,和最近描述的蒙迪尼亚,由六个物种组成,分布在世界各地,感染人类和/或动物。这些寄生虫感染各种哺乳动物物种,也引起严重的人类疾病,但他们的水库是未知的。因此,需要适当的实验室模型才能对蒙迪尼亚寄生虫进行适当的研究。在这项复杂的研究中,我们比较了五种Mundinia物种的实验性感染(L.Enriettii,L.宏观,L.Chancei,L.Orientalis,和三种啮齿动物中的四种马氏乳球菌):BALB/c小鼠,中国仓鼠(Cricetulusgriseus)和草原旅鼠(Laguruslagurus)。将培养物来源的寄生虫皮内接种到耳膜中,并监测感染进展20周,当动物的组织和器官筛选利什曼原虫的存在和数量时。在感染后第5、10、15和20周进行了假血球病的异种诊断,以测试整个实验中动物的传染性。BALB/c小鼠没有出现感染迹象,对沙蝇没有感染,虽然中国仓鼠和草原旅鼠被证明对所有五种蒙迪尼亚物种敏感,表现出从无症状到内脏的广泛疾病体征。与中国仓鼠相比,Mundinia在草原旅鼠中引起的感染率明显更高,因此,草原旅鼠对沙蝇更具传染性:在所有测试组中,它们在感染后第5周至第20周具有传染性。总之,我们发现了两种啮齿动物,中国仓鼠(Cricetulusgriseus)和草原旅鼠(Laguruslagurus),作为Mundinia实验室模型的候选人,可以对这些神秘的寄生虫进行详细研究。此外,草原旅鼠中所有Mundinia物种的长期生存及其对媒介的传染性支持以下假设:某些啮齿动物有可能成为Mundinia的水库宿主。