Is it possible to immunolocalize Trypananosoma vivax in testis and epididymis of young goats?

• Grant number: 20/06492-6
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: September 01, 2020
• End date: August 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Veterinary Medicine - Animal Reproduction
• Principal Investigator: Lindsay Unno Gimenes
• Grantee: Amanda Kassem Sammour
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Agrárias e Veterinárias (FCAV). Universidade Estadual Paulista (UNESP). Campus de Jaboticabal. Jaboticabal , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Trypanosoma vivax (T. vivax) infections cause great economic and reproductive losses and, in chronic cases, can lead to sterility. However, there are few studies related to this parasite in the goat species and there is no work related to the exact location of the parasite in the reproductive tract, with a lack of knowledge regarding the pathogenesis of this infection in animals. In the present project, the aim is to locate the parasite in the testicles and epididymis by immunohistochemistry. This method marks specifically where the antigen (T. vivax) binds to the antibody, thus finding the exact location of the parasite. To carry out the experiment, one mL of blood with 1x104 metacyclic trypomastigotes (Miranda strain) was inoculated intravenously in 15 young Saanen male goats (between 6-9 months; infected group; G-INF), and 5 animals remained as a negative control group (G-CON). After 47 days of inoculation, all animals were euthanized and the testicles and epididymis were prepared histologically to perform the immunohistochemistry technique. It is expected to define the location of the parasite in the male reproductive tract and to clarify the pathogenesis associated with macro and microscopic lesions caused by the parasite.