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Experimental infection of athymic mice with the human microsporidian Nosema corneum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

H. Silveira ,
E. U. Canning  and
J. A. Shadduck
H. Silveira
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, UK
E. U. Canning
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Imperial College of Science, Technology and Medicine, London SW7 2AZ, UK
J. A. Shadduck
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Pathology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Texas A&M University, Texas 77843-4461, USA
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Summary

Athymic mice (BALB/c nu/nu/Ola/Hsd) were experimentally infected intraperitoneally with Nosema corneum spores. Infection was monitored in the first and second weeks post-infection. The liver, spleen, kidney, intestine, lung, heart, brain and eye were collected. Quantification of infection in each organ using three different techniques gave approximately the same pattern of infection. Infection increased with time. Histological observations were made on the sites of infection in each organ. All organs were infected, the liver being the most heavily infected. The eye was infected in the retina in contrast to the cornea which was the site of infection in the original host. The present study of N. corneum in athymic mice has shown that this system could also be used to study host-parasite relationships and serve as a model for testing therapeutic agents. Previously the only microsporidian serving as a suitable model for human microsporidiosis was Encephalitozoon cuniculi.

Keywords

Nosema corneummicrosporidiaathymic mice
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 107 , Issue 5 , December 1993 , pp. 489 - 496
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1993

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