title: Rabbit as an animal model of paranasal sinus mycoses.
abstract: Paranasal sinus mycoses are endemic in rural populations of northern India. To study host-parasite interactions, we developed an animal model of paranasal sinus mycoses. After failure in small animals such as mice and rats, we used New Zealand white rabbits weighing 2.5-3 kg. Inoculum sizes consisted of 0.75-1.0 x 10(8), 0.75-1.0 x 10(7), 0.75-1.0 x 10(6) conidia of a clinical isolate of Aspergillus flavus. The inoculum was injected at a spot 0.5 cm in front of the alveolar process of the maxilla and 0.5 cm below the maxillary process of frontal bone and vertically to a depth of 0.5 cm across the bone directly into the nasal sinus. Paranasal sinus mycoses proven by culture and histopathology developed in 67% of animals injected with 0.75-1.0 x 10(8) conidia and 17% of animals with 0.75 x 10(7) conidia. No lesions were found in the group injected with 0.75-1.0 x 10(6) conidia. Precipitating antibody against culture filtrate antigen was found in rabbits with paranasal sinus mycoses. Therefore, rabbits can be used as an animal model to study paranasal sinus mycoses.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Microbiology, Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh, India.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Chakrabarti
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jatana
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Sharma
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001228:Aspergillosis / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D001231:Aspergillus flavus / Q000302:isolation & purification; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D009181:Mycoses / Q000503:physiopathology*; D010254:Paranasal Sinus Diseases / Q000382:microbiology* / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology; D011817:Rabbits; D051381:Rats