Experimental infection of Calomys callosus (Rodentia, Cricetidae) by Toxoplasma gondii.
Calomys callosus, Rengger 1830 (Rodentia, Cricetidae), a wild rodent found in Central Brazil, was studied to investigate its susceptibility to Toxoplasma gondii experimental infection and its humoral immune response against this protozoa. The electrophoretic profile of the serum proteins of C. callosus showed that IgG, which shows no affinity to Protein A, has higher cross reactivity with rat IgG than with IgG from other rodents. The susceptibility assay was performed by inoculation groups of animals with various suspensions of T. gondii tachyzoites from 10(2) to 10(6) parasites. All animals died between 3 and 9 days after infection and the kinetics of antibody synthesis was determined. Basically, they recognized predominantly the immunodominant antigen SAG-1 (P30). The immunohistochemistry assays revealed that the liver was the most heavily infected organ, followed by the spleen, lungs, intestine, brain and kidneys. It can be concluded that C. callosus is an excellent experimental model for acute phase of Toxoplasma infection.
Departamento de Patologia, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, MG, Brasil.
S
S
Favoreto-Júnior
E A
EA
Ferro
D
D
Clemente
D A
DA
Silva
J R
JR
Mineo
D000818:Animals; D003411:Arvicolinae / Q000469:parasitology*; D014122:Toxoplasma / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D014124:Toxoplasmosis, Animal / Q000469:parasitology*