title: Calcium ions are involved in egress of Babesia bovis merozoites from bovine erythrocytes.
abstract: Bovine babesiosis is a livestock disease known to cause economic losses in endemic areas. The apicomplexan parasite Babesia bovis is able to invade and destroy the host's erythrocytes leading to the serious pathologies of the disease, such as anemia and hemoglobinuria. Understanding the egress mechanisms of this parasite is therefore a key step to develop new therapeutic strategies. In this study, the possible involvement of Ca(2+) in the egress of B. bovis merozoites from infected erythrocytes was investigated. Egress was artificially induced in vitro using calcium ionophore A23187 and thapsigargin to increase Ca(2+) concentration in the cytosol of the parasite cells. The increased intracellular Ca(2+) concentration following these treatments was confirmed using live cell Ca(2+) imaging with confocal laser scanning microscopy. Based on our findings, we suggest a Ca(2+) signalling pathway in the egress of B. bovis merozoites.
authors.affiliation: National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080-8555, Japan.
authors.forename: Ehab
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Mossaad
authors.forename: Masahito
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Asada
authors.forename: Daichi
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Nakatani
authors.forename: Noboru
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Inoue
authors.forename: Naoaki
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Yokoyama
authors.forename: Osamu
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Kaneko
authors.forename: Shin-ichiro
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kawazu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D016793:Babesia bovis / Q000502:physiology*; D000001:Calcimycin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D002118:Calcium / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D061207:Calcium Ionophores / Q000494:pharmacology; D002417:Cattle; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000469:parasitology*; D052940:Merozoites / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D061207:Calcium Ionophores; D000001:Calcimycin; D002118:Calcium