Abstract

PATHO-MOLECULAR FOLLOW UP OF T. gondii INFECTION IN SEMEN AND TESTES OF EXPERIMENTALLY INFECTED RABBIT BUCKS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO ITS VENEREAL TRANSMISSION

Eglal A. Koura*, Adel S. Amin, Ashraf M. Barakat, Samah F. Darwish, Hanan M. Ismail, Walid S. El-Nattat, Tahani S. Behor, Hany A. Amer and Mona A. Farah

ABSTRACT

Toxoplasmosis is an important opportunistic infection among human caused by Toxoplasma gondii. It is one of the most common parasitic zoonotic worldwide diseases. The present study was divided into two experiments, the first experiment to follow up of T. gondii infection in semen and testes of experimentally infected rabbit bucks, it carried out on 28 mature male New Zealand rabbits divided into 4 groups. The first group was the control. The second group was inoculated subcutaneously (s/c) and intra peritoneal (I/P) with 15×014 tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii of RH strain, semen samples were collected pre- inoculation and at weekly post-inoculation (P/I) intervals for two weeks. The third group was inoculated s/c with 15×104 tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii of RH strain. The fourth group was inoculated s/c with 15×104 tachyzoites of Toxoplasma gondii of RH strain and was subjected to immunosuppressive drug regimens. semen samples were collected pre-inoculation and at weekly PI intervals for two months. The molecular diagnosis by real time PCR detected the parasite in all semen and tissue samples of infected rabbits. Some histopathological changes were detected in testes. The second experiment to assess the venereal transmission of T. gondii in female rabbits mated with infected bucks. The molecular diagnosis by real time PCR detected the parasite in all tissue samples of female and their fetuses. Histopathological alternation in different tissues were observed.

Keywords: Rabbit bucks; T. gondii; histopathology; Real-Time PCR, venereal transmission.