Isolation and biological and genotypic characterization of Toxoplasma gondii from sheep and goats

Author(s)

Alessandra Mara Alves Ragozo

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: São Paulo.
• Institution: Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Faculdade de Medicina Veterinária e Zootecnia (FMVZ/SBD)
• Defense date: 2007-04-10

Examining board members

Solange Maria Gennari; Paulo Eduardo Brandão; Hélio Langoni; Hilda Fátima de Jesus Pena; Rodrigo Martins Soares

• Advisor: Solange Maria Gennari

Abstract

The aim of this study was to analyze the SAG2 locus of Toxoplasma gondii isolated from sheep and goats in order to determine the frequency of occurrence of the three different lineages (types I, II and III). Serum samples of sheep (495) from 36 counties in São Paulo State and goat (143) from six counties in States of Bahia (10), Paraíba (12), Rio Grande do Norte (7) and São Paulo (114) were analyzed by the modified agglutination test (MAT&ge;25) for the detection of antibodies anti-T. gondii. Occurrence of antibodies anti-T. gondii was 24.2% and 32.2% in sheep and goats, respectively. The titers varied from 25 to 3200 in both species. Among sheeps, association of seropositivity (p<0,001) with sex, age, production system and presence of antibodies anti-T. gondii was observed. Association was also observed between the frequency of seropositive goats and age, production system and breed. For T. gondii isolation, pool of tissues of each seropositive sheep (brain, heart and diaphragm) and goat (brain, heart, diaphragm and masseter) were bioassayed in mice. From a total of 82 bioassay performed with sheep samples, 16 isolates (19.5%) were obtained. Association between antibodies anti-T. gondii titers and isolation was observed (p<0.001). Considering the goats, 12 isolates (42.6%) were obtained from 26 bioassays. For the genotypic characterization (genotype I, II and III), the restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) was performed on fragments of the locus SAG2 amplified by PCR. Samples of type I (87.5% from sheep and 100% from goats) and type III (12.5% from sheep) was observed. Neither type II nor mixed samples were observed. In tissues samples from animals with antibodies titers above 400 in which T. gondii was not isolated (21 sheep sample), nested-PCR was performed and no amplification was observed. Mortality was not observed in the mice infected by the isolates type III. The isolates of type I from sheep and goats, respectively, killed 51.0% and 83.4% of the infected mouse. Association was also observed between mortality rate in infected mice and genotype I of sheep and goat (p<0.001). (AU)