title: Comparison of apoptosis between adult worms of Schistosoma japonicum from susceptible (BALB/c mice) and less-susceptible (Wistar rats) hosts.
abstract: Schistosomiasis remains a serious public health concern in China. BALB/c mice are susceptible to Schistosoma japonicum infection, whereas the Wistar rats are less susceptible. Apoptosis phenomenon was observed in 42d adult worms of S. japonicum from both rats and mice at the morphologic, DNA, cellular, and gene levels by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), fluorometric terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated dUTP nick-end labeling (TUNEL) analysis, fluorescein isothiocyanate-annexin-V/propidium iodide staining flow cytometry (FCM) analysis, and real-time PCR. The results showed that the apoptotic state in worms from two different susceptible hosts was diverse. Several classical hallmarks of apoptosis, including cell shrinkage, chromatin condensation and lunate marginalization, splitting of the nucleoli, nuclear shrinkage and apoptotic body formation were observed by TEM. TUNEL analysis showed that there were much more apoptosis spots in adult worms from rats than those from mice. Statistical analysis revealed that the degree of apoptosis and percentage of necrotic cells in adult worms from Wistar rats were significantly greater (P<0.01) than those from BALB/c mice by flow cytometry. A total of 15 apoptosis-associated genes including the major components of an intrinsic cell-death pathway were identified from S. japonicum in this study, suggested that a similar apoptosis pathway might occur in S. japonicum. Real-time PCR analyses revealed that the expression levels of most of the tested apoptosis-associated genes, except CASP7, were significantly higher or at the similar level in adult worms from Wistar rats, as compared to those from BALB/c mice. The results obtained in this study collectively demonstrated that differential development of adult S. japonicum in less-susceptible rats and susceptible mice was significantly associated with apoptosis in the worm, and provided valuable information to guide further investigations of the mechanisms governing apoptosis and host interactions in schistosome infection.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Tao
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiaoyong
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Guo
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hongxiao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Xiaodan
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China; College of Animal Science, Henan Institute of Science and Technology, Xinxiang, China.
authors.forename: Yanhui
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Han
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China; College of Animal Science and Technology, Henan University of Science and Technology, Luoyang, China.
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Miaoli
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhiqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Ke
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Hao
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China.
authors.forename: Zhixin
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Animal Parasitology, Ministry of Agriculture of China, Shanghai Veterinary Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Shanghai, China; Jiangsu Co-innovation Center for Prevention and Control of Important Animal Infectious Diseases and Zoonoses, Yangzhou, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: jjlin@shvri.ac.cn.
authors.forename: Jiaojiao
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lin
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D058507:Host Specificity; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D051381:Rats; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D012549:Schistosoma japonicum / Q000235:genetics* / Q000302:isolation & purification / Q000378:metabolism / Q000472:pathogenicity
keywords: FCM; RT-PCR; TEM; TUNEL