Ultrastructure of Sarcocystis bertrami sarcocysts from a naturally infected donkey (Equus asinus) from Egypt.

There is considerable confusion concerning Sarcocystis species in equids. Little is known of Sarcocystis infections in donkeys (Equus asinus). Here we describe the structure of Sarcocystis bertrami-like from the donkey by light microscopy (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Nineteen sarcocysts from the tongue of a donkey from Egypt were studied both by LM and TEM. By LM, all sarcocysts had variably shaped and sized projections on the sarcocyst walls, giving it a thin-walled to thick-walled appearance, depending on individual sarcocyst and plane of section. By TEM, sarcocysts walls had villar protrusions (vp) of type 11. The sarcocyst wall had conical to slender vp, up to 6 µm long and 1 µm wide; the vp were folded over the sarcocyst wall. The total thickness of the sarcocyst wall with ground substance layer (gs) was 1-3 µm. The vp had microtubules (mt) that originated deeper in the gs and continued up to the tip. The apical part of the vp had electron dense granules. The mt were configured into 3 types: a tuft of electron dense mt1 extending the entire length of the vp with a tuft of medium electron dense mt2 appearing in parallel, and fine mt3 present only in the villar tips. The gs was mainly smooth with few indistinct granules. All sarcocysts were mature and contained metrocytes and bradyzoites. Bradyzoites were approximately 11-15 × 2-3 µm in size with typical organelles.

Ocorrência de anticorpos anti-Neospora spp. em jumentos (Equus asinus) no estado de Sucre - Colômbia / Occurrence of anti-Neospora spp. Antibodies in donkeys (Equus asinus) in the state of Sucre - Colombia

A neosporose tem grande importância em bovinos, e sua patogênese neste hospedeiro, em termos gerais, está esclarecida, porém, em equídeos é pobremente conhecida. Na Colômbia ainda não foram reportados anticorpos Anti-Neospora spp. em equídeos, sendo assim objetivou-se no presente estudo avaliar a ocorrência do parasito em jumentos (Equus asinus) de fazendas que apresentavam risco da doença nestes animais. Foram utilizados 56 animais no estado de Sucre (Colômbia), escolhidos aleatoriamente dentro das fazendas selecionadas. Utilizou-se um peptídeo recombinante originado de Neospora caninum (NcGRA1) para o diagnóstico por Dot-ELISA, e o soro foi diluído em 1:200. Este estudo reporta, pela primeira vez no estado de Sucre e na Colômbia, a presença de anticorpos anti-Neospora spp. na espécie Equus asinus, com uma ocorrência de 19,7% (11/56) dos animais amostrados...

The neosporosis has great importance in cattle, and its pathogenesis in this host has been generally clarified, however, in horses, neosporosis is poorly known, and in Colombia anti-Neospora spp antibodies have not been reported. Therefore, the main objective in the present study was to evaluate the occurrence of this parasite in donkeys (Equus asinus) from farms that presented a risk of disease in these animals, as well as no health plan for them. Were used 56 animals randomly chosen inside selected farms in the state of Sucre (Colombia). A recombinant peptide originated from Neospora caninum (NcGRA1) was used for the diagnosis with Dot-ELISA and serum was diluted 1:200. This study is the first to report the presence of anti-Neospora spp. in donkeys (Equus asinus) in the state of Sucre, and in Colombia. The occurrence was in 19.7% of the animals sampled (11/56)...