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4 pages, 512 KiB

Open AccessEditorial

Host–Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting It

by Javier González-Miguel

Animals 2022, 12(4), 448; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani12040448 - 12 Feb 2022

Cited by 2 | Viewed by 2246

Abstract

The evolutionary success of parasitism is directly related to the huge number of species that have evolved this way of life [...] Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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Research

Jump to: Editorial

9 pages, 723 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Do Live Weight, Body Condition Score, Back Muscle or Back-Fat Reserves Create the Suspicion of Goats Infected with Eimeria or Trichostrongylids?

by Martin Ptáček, Iveta Angela Kyriánová, Jana Nápravníková, Jaromír Ducháček, Tomáš Husák, Alfonso J. Chay-Canul, Claudia Zaragoza-Vera, Luis Cruz-Bacab and Jaroslav Vadlejch

Animals 2021, 11(12), 3591; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123591 - 18 Dec 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2256

Abstract

Thirty goats of the breeds Czech Brown Shorthaired and Czech White Shorthaired and their crosses were randomly selected from a flock at a farm in the Czech Republic. All animals were monitored for one year at monthly intervals for their nutritional status (live [...] Read more.

Thirty goats of the breeds Czech Brown Shorthaired and Czech White Shorthaired and their crosses were randomly selected from a flock at a farm in the Czech Republic. All animals were monitored for one year at monthly intervals for their nutritional status (live weight, LW; body-condition score, BCS; depth of musculus longissimus thoracis et lumborum, MLTL; back-fat thickness, BT) and infection intensity with Eimeria sp. (EIM) and strongylid nematodes (STR). Regression–correlation analysis showed a possible interrelation of BCS with EIM infection. Analysis of muscle and fat reserves indicated that BT was better than MLTL in identifying EIM infection. Goat nutritional status was not significantly correlated with STR infection. A linear tendency (p = 0.092), however, was detected for the response of MLTL to STR infection. Results of this study indicated theoretical use of BCS for Eimeria identification and suggested some perspective of BCS for targeting animals infected by strongylid nematode. Validity of our results, however, was limited by number of observed animals managed under specific breeding conditions. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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16 pages, 2378 KiB

Open AccessArticle

The Zoonotic Helminth Parasite Fasciola hepatica: Virulence-Associated Cathepsin B and Cathepsin L Cysteine Peptidases Secreted by Infective Newly Excysted Juveniles (NEJ)

by Tara Barbour, Krystyna Cwiklinski, Richard Lalor, John Pius Dalton and Carolina De Marco Verissimo

Animals 2021, 11(12), 3495; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11123495 - 08 Dec 2021

Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2842

Abstract

Fasciolosis caused by Fasciola hepatica is a major global disease of livestock and an important neglected helminthiasis of humans. Infection arises when encysted metacercariae are ingested by the mammalian host. Within the intestine, the parasite excysts as a newly excysted juvenile (NEJ) that [...] Read more.

Fasciolosis caused by Fasciola hepatica is a major global disease of livestock and an important neglected helminthiasis of humans. Infection arises when encysted metacercariae are ingested by the mammalian host. Within the intestine, the parasite excysts as a newly excysted juvenile (NEJ) that penetrates the intestinal wall and migrates to the liver. NEJ excystment and tissue penetration are facilitated by the secretion of cysteine peptidases, namely, cathepsin B1 (FhCB1), cathepsin B2 (FhCB2), cathepsin B3 (FhCB3) and cathepsin L3 (FhCL3). While our knowledge of these peptidases is growing, we have yet to understand why multiple enzymes are required for parasite invasion. Here, we produced functional recombinant forms of these four peptidases and compared their physio-biochemical characteristics. Our studies show great variation of their pH optima for activity, substrate specificity and inhibitory profile. Carboxy-dipeptidase activity was exhibited exclusively by FhCB1. Our studies suggest that, combined, these peptidases create a powerful hydrolytic cocktail capable of digesting the various host tissues, cells and macromolecules. Although we found several inhibitors of these enzymes, they did not show potent inhibition of metacercarial excystment or NEJ viability in vitro. However, this does not exclude these peptidases as targets for future drug or vaccine development. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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17 pages, 10049 KiB

Open AccessArticle

A Partially Protective Vaccine for Fasciola hepatica Induced Degeneration of Adult Flukes Associated to a Severe Granulomatous Reaction in Sheep

by Verónica Molina-Hernández, María T. Ruiz-Campillo, Francisco J. Martínez-Moreno, Leandro Buffoni, Álvaro Martínez-Moreno, Rafael Zafra, María J. Bautista, Alejandro Escamilla, Raúl Pérez-Caballero and José Pérez

Animals 2021, 11(10), 2869; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11102869 - 30 Sep 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1841

Abstract

Fasciolosis is an important economic disease of livestock. There is a global interest in the development of protective vaccines since current anthelmintic therapy is no longer sustainable. A better knowledge of the host-parasite interaction is needed for the design of effective vaccines. The [...] Read more.

Fasciolosis is an important economic disease of livestock. There is a global interest in the development of protective vaccines since current anthelmintic therapy is no longer sustainable. A better knowledge of the host-parasite interaction is needed for the design of effective vaccines. The present study evaluates the microscopical hepatic lesions in sheep immunized with a partially protective vaccine (VAC1), a non-protective vaccine (VAC2), and an infected control group (IC). The nature of granulomatous inflammation associated with degeneration of adult flukes found in the VAC1 group was characterized by immunohistochemistry. Hepatic lesions (fibrous perihepatitis, chronic tracts, bile duct hyperplasia, infiltration of eosinophils and lymphocytes and plasma cells) were significantly less severe in the VAC1 group than in the IC group. Dead adult flukes within bile ducts were observed only in the VAC1 group and were surrounded by a severe granulomatous inflammation composed by macrophages and multinucleate giant cells with a high expression of lysozyme, CD163 and S100 markers, and a low expression of CD68. Numerous CD3+ T lymphocytes and scarce infiltrate of FoxP3+ Treg and CD208+ dendritic cells were present. This is the first report describing degenerated flukes associated to a severe granulomatous inflammation in bile ducts in a F. hepatica vaccine trial. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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25 pages, 120914 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

Fascioliasis in Llama, Lama glama, in Andean Endemic Areas: Experimental Transmission Capacity by the High Altitude Snail Vector Galba truncatula and Epidemiological Analysis of Its Reservoir Role

by Santiago Mas-Coma, Maria Mercedes Cafrune, Ilra Renata Funatsu, Atilio Jose Mangold, Rene Angles, Paola Buchon, Maria Cecilia Fantozzi, Patricio Artigas, Maria Adela Valero and Maria Dolores Bargues

Animals 2021, 11(9), 2693; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11092693 - 14 Sep 2021

Cited by 9 | Viewed by 3385

Abstract

South American camelids are definitive hosts of Fasciola hepatica. However, their capacity to participate in the transmission and epidemiology of fascioliasis has never been appropriately studied. Therefore, an F. hepatica isolate from Argentine llama is for the first time analyzed using Galba [...] Read more.

South American camelids are definitive hosts of Fasciola hepatica. However, their capacity to participate in the transmission and epidemiology of fascioliasis has never been appropriately studied. Therefore, an F. hepatica isolate from Argentine llama is for the first time analyzed using Galba truncatula lymnaeids from Bolivia. Experimental follow-up studies included egg embryogenesis, miracidial infection of lymnaeid snails, intramolluscan larval development, cercarial production, chronobiology of cercarial shedding, vector survival to infection, and metacercarial infectivity of mammal host. Shorter prepatent and patent periods were leading to markedly lower cercarial production, shorter cercarial shedding, and a higher negative impact on snail survival. The usually low liver fluke prevalences and intensities and low daily fecal outputs indicate that llamas do not substantially contribute to fascioliasis transmission. The defecating behavior in dung piles far from freshwater collections prevents lymnaeid infection by eggs shed by this camelid. All results suggest the reservoir role of the llama to be negligible and, therefore, no priority within control measures in endemic areas. However, llamas may play a disease-spreading role if used as pack animals in rural areas. In the Northern Bolivian Altiplano human hyperendemic area, neither llamas nor alpacas should be considered for control measures within a One Health action. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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27 pages, 3338 KiB

Open AccessEditor’s ChoiceArticle

DNA Multi-Marker Genotyping and CIAS Morphometric Phenotyping of Fasciola gigantica-Sized Flukes from Ecuador, with an Analysis of the Radix Absence in the New World and the Evolutionary Lymnaeid Snail Vector Filter

by Maria Dolores Bargues, Maria Adela Valero, Gabriel A. Trueba, Marco Fornasini, Angel F. Villavicencio, Rocío Guamán, Alejandra De Elías-Escribano, Ignacio Pérez-Crespo, Patricio Artigas and Santiago Mas-Coma

Animals 2021, 11(9), 2495; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11092495 - 25 Aug 2021

Cited by 11 | Viewed by 4455

Abstract

Fascioliasis is a disease caused by Fasciola hepatica worldwide transmitted by lymnaeid snails mainly of the Galba/Fossaria group and F. gigantica restricted to parts of Africa and Asia and transmitted by Radix lymnaeids. Concern has recently risen regarding the high pathogenicity [...] Read more.

Fascioliasis is a disease caused by Fasciola hepatica worldwide transmitted by lymnaeid snails mainly of the Galba/Fossaria group and F. gigantica restricted to parts of Africa and Asia and transmitted by Radix lymnaeids. Concern has recently risen regarding the high pathogenicity and human infection capacity of F. gigantica. Abnormally big-sized fasciolids were found infecting sheep in Ecuador, the only South American country where F. gigantica has been reported. Their phenotypic comparison with F. hepatica infecting sheep from Peru, Bolivia and Spain, and F. gigantica from Egypt and Vietnam demonstrated the Ecuadorian fasciolids to have size-linked parameters of F. gigantica. Genotyping of these big-sized fasciolids by rDNA ITS-2 and ITS-1 and mtDNA cox1 and nad1 and their comparison with other countries proved the big-sized fasciolids to belong to F. hepatica. Neither heterozygotic ITS position differentiated the two species, and no introgressed fragments and heteroplasmic positions in mtDNA were found. The haplotype diversity indicates introductions mainly from other South American countries, Europe and North America. Big-sized fasciolids from Ecuador and USA are considered to be consequences of F.gigantica introductions by past livestock importations. The vector specificity filter due to Radix absence should act as driving force in the evolution in such lineages. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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13 pages, 4431 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Host-Parasite Relationships in Porcine Ascariosis: Anticoagulant Potential of the Third Larval Stage of Ascaris suum as a Possible Survival Mechanism

by Alicia Diosdado, Fernando Simón, Rodrigo Morchón and Javier González-Miguel

Animals 2021, 11(3), 804; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11030804 - 13 Mar 2021

Cited by 3 | Viewed by 2371

Abstract

In order to evade the response of their hosts, helminth parasites have evolved precise and highly regulated mechanisms, including migration strategies of the larval stages. In regard to porcine ascariosis caused by Ascaris suum, its infective third-stage larvae (AsL3) undergo a complex [...] Read more.

In order to evade the response of their hosts, helminth parasites have evolved precise and highly regulated mechanisms, including migration strategies of the larval stages. In regard to porcine ascariosis caused by Ascaris suum, its infective third-stage larvae (AsL3) undergo a complex migratory route through the bloodstream of their host before establishing in the small intestine to reach maturation. Despite the benefits attributed to this migration, blood clots formation could compromise larvae survival. The aim of this work was to study the interaction between the cuticle and excretory/secretory antigens of AsL3 and the host coagulation cascade. Larvae were obtained after incubating and hatching A. suum eggs, after which the antigenic extracts were produced. Their ability to disrupt the coagulation cascade was studied using anticoagulation and chromogenic assays, and techniques based on electrophoresis. The obtained results showed that both antigenic extracts possessed anticoagulant potential, being able to inhibit the intrinsic, extrinsic and/or common pathways of the blood coagulation cascade as well as the activated factor X. Moreover, three A. suum serpin proteins were identified as candidates to inhibit this host coagulation factor. To the best of our knowledge, this study shows, for the first time, the anticoagulant potential of the infective larvae of A. suum, which could be used by the parasite as a mechanism to facilitate its invasion and survival in the host. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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12 pages, 1782 KiB

Open AccessArticle

Immunopathological Response, Histological Changes, Parasitic Burden, and Egg Output in Sheep Naturally Infected by Dicrocoelium dendriticum

by Giuseppe Piegari, Paola Pepe, Davide De Biase, Ilaria d’Aquino, Antonio Bosco, Giuseppe Cringoli, Serenella Papparella, Laura Rinaldi and Orlando Paciello

Animals 2021, 11(2), 546; https://doi.org/10.3390/ani11020546 - 19 Feb 2021

Cited by 12 | Viewed by 2956

Abstract

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between infection by Dicrocoelium dendriticum (class Trematoda) and the animal host response in terms of macroscopic lesions, the immunopathological response, and histological changes in the livers of naturally infected sheep. Twenty-four sheep were [...] Read more.

The aim of this study was to investigate the correlation between infection by Dicrocoelium dendriticum (class Trematoda) and the animal host response in terms of macroscopic lesions, the immunopathological response, and histological changes in the livers of naturally infected sheep. Twenty-four sheep were selected on the basis of positive D. dendriticum fecal egg counts (FECs). Gross and histological injuries were scored. A positive significant association was observed between the number of adult worms recovered from the liver, FEC, macroscopic lesions, fibrosis, and bile duct hyperplasia. A significant negative association was observed among these variables and the degree of leukocyte infiltration. In addition, immunophenotyping of the inflammatory cells was carried out using primary antibodies against T cell epitopes (CD3+, CD4+, and CD8+), B cell epitopes (CD79α), and the ionized calcium-binding adapter molecule 1 (IBA-1) antigen. Independently of the severity of the D. dendriticum infection, the predominant cell population was CD3-positive and associated with lesser numbers of CD79α- and Iba-I-positive cells. An increase in Iba-1-positive cells was observed in the livers of animals with a high worm burden. Our results provide a reference basis to better understand the local immune response in sheep naturally infected by D. dendriticum in relation to the FEC and parasitic burden. Full article

(This article belongs to the Special Issue Host-Parasite Relationships in Veterinary Parasitology: Get to Know Your Enemy before Fighting it)

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