title: Adapting Eimeria tenella to grow in primary chicken kidney cells following repeated passages between cell culture and chickens.
abstract: The present study was undertaken to adapt a field isolate (F0) of Eimeria tenella to grow in primary chicken kidney cells (PCKCs) by selecting for characteristics of the parasite rather than modifying the culture and/or environmental conditions. Fourteen generations (F1 to F14) of E. tenella were produced following repeated passages between PCKCs and chickens. Although F1 yielded only a 28% increase in oocysts, in PCKCs compared with F0, F2 to F5 produced from 259% to 277% more oocysts, respectively. There was no significant increase in the percentage of oocysts produced in PCKCs by F6 to F14 compared with F5. Generations F1 to F14 demonstrated a greater propensity for multiple infections within the same host cell than did F0. For example, it was not uncommon to observe two, three, and occasionally four oocysts within a single PCKC. Chickens inoculated with F0 oocysts generally experienced greater pathogenesis by day 7 postinoculation than chickens inoculated with F14 oocysts as measured by decreased body weights, increased cecal lesions, and a higher mortality rate.
authors.affiliation: Veterinary Medicine Institute of Guangdong Academy of Agricultural Science, Wushan, Guangzhou, People's Republic of China.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Wilson
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Healey
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001835:Body Weight; D002432:Cecum / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002645:Chickens; D003048:Coccidiosis / Q000401:mortality / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D016786:Eimeria tenella / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000472:pathogenicity; D007668:Kidney / Q000166:cytology / Q000382:microbiology*