Detection of Prototheca zopfii infection in mouse skin tissue sections by using fluorescence in situ hybridization / 中华皮肤科杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To evaluate the feasibility to detect Prototheca in a mouse model of Prototheca zopfii cutaneous infection by using fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH).Methods The model of Prototheca zopfii cutaneous infection was established by abdominal subcutaneous inoculation of Prototheca zopfii suspensions into 20 male BALB/c mice.Seven days after the inoculation,the mice were sacrificed,and tissue specimens were obtained from abdominal skin and subjected to microscopic examination,fungal culture and paraffin embedding.A PZ-probe was artificially synthesized and used to detect Prototheca in paraffin-embedded sections by using FISH.Moreover,both periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining were performed to examine the paraffin-embedded sections.Skin specimens obtained from normal mice and Candida albicans-or Cryptococcus neoformans-infected mice served as the negative control.Results Clinical presentations,pathological examination and fungal culture results all confirmed the successful establishment of Prototheca zopfii skin infection model in mice.Prototheca was identified by FISH with the PZ-probe in the paraffin-embedded skin tissue sections from the murine model of Prototheca zopfii cutaneous infection,but not detected in the negative control tissue specimens,which was consistent with the results of PAS and HE staining.Conclusion FISH can be used to detect Prototheca in paraffin-embedded skin sections from the mouse model of Prototheca zopfii cutaneous infection.