title: Life cycle of Cryptosporidium muris in two rodents with different responses to parasitization.
abstract: This study focuses on mapping the life cycle of Cryptosporidium muris in two laboratory rodents; BALB/c mice and the southern multimammate rat Mastomys coucha, differing in their prepatent and patent periods. Both rodents were simultaneously experimentally inoculated with viable oocysts of C. muris (strain TS03). Animals were dissected and screened for the presence of the parasite using a combined morphological approach and nested PCR (SSU rRNA) at different times after inoculation. The occurrence of first developmental stages of C. muris in stomach was detected at 2.5 days post-infection (dpi). The presence of Type II merogony, appearing 36 h later than Type I merogony, was confirmed in both rodents. Oocysts exhibiting different size and thickness of their wall were observed from 5 dpi onwards in stomachs of both host models. The early phase of parasitization in BALB/c mice progressed rapidly, with a prepatent period of 7.5-10 days; whereas in M. coucha, the developmental stages of C. muris were first observed 12 h later in comparison with BALB/c mice and prepatent period was longer (18-21 days). Similarly, the patent periods of BALB/c mice and M. coucha differed considerably, i.e. 10-15 days vs chronic infection throughout the life of the host, respectively.
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Janka
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Melicherová
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Jana
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ilgová
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kváč
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences, Branišovská 31, 370 05 České Budějovice, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Bohumil
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sak
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathological Morphology and Parasitology, University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Palackého 1/3, 612 42 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Břetislav
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Koudela
authors.affiliation: Department of Botany and Zoology, Faculty of Science, Masaryk University, Kotlářská 2, 611 37 Brno, Czech Republic.
authors.forename: Andrea
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Valigurová
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D003457:Cryptosporidiosis / Q000469:parasitology / Q000473:pathology*; D003458:Cryptosporidium / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005243:Feces / Q000469:parasitology; D005260:Female; D005753:Gastric Mucosa / Q000473:pathology; D008018:Life Cycle Stages; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D051189:Murinae; D033661:Oocysts; D013045:Species Specificity; D053058:Trophozoites