Cultivation of Giardia duodenalis in Mongolian gerbils.

ABSTRACT

The Mongolian gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) is susceptible to infection with Giardia duodenalis trophozoites. Each animal was orally infected with 0.5 ml Diamond's TYIS-33 culture medium containing 10(6) trophozoites. Cysts were then collected and concentrated by sucrose gradient centrifugation. G. duodenalis cysts were first observed in feces on day 5 post-infection. The characteristic of G. duodenalis infection in gerbils was intermittent cyst release. The range in the number of cysts released per gerbil for a 4-hour collection period was 0-1.5 x 10(3).