Academic literature on the topic 'Mastigophora Infections'

Literature reviews of all references concerning the parasitic fauna of fishes in fish farms of Babylon province, middle of Iraq, showed that a total of 92 valid parasite species are so far known from the common carp (Cyprinus carpio), the grass carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella), and the silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) as well as from three freshwater fish species (Carassius auratus,Liza abu, andHeteropneustes fossilis) which were found in some fish farms of the same province. The parasitic fauna included one mastigophoran, three apicomplexans, 13 ciliophorans, five myxozoans, five trematodes, 45 monogeneans, five cestodes, three nematodes, two acanthocephalans, nine arthropods, and one mollusc. The common carp was found to harbour 81 species of parasites, the grass carp 30 species, the silver carp 28 species,L. abu13 species,C. auratusone species, andH. fossilisone species. A host-parasite list for each fish species was also provided.

A study was conducted to determine the influence of concurrent exposure to crude oil and a hemoprotozoan parasite, Trypanosoma murmanensis, on mortality in winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes americanus. Both juvenile and adult flounder were infected and exposed to sediment contaminated with various concentrations (~100, 300, 600, 1000, and 2200 μg/g) of oil for 8 weeks at 0–1 °C in flow-through seawater aquaria with corresponding uncontaminated infected and uninfected groups. Mortality occurred earlier and was greater in juvenile fish exposed to crude oil than in adults. However, a larger percentage of oil-treated, infected adult flounder died after exposure at the highest concentrations. At the highest concentrations, selected organ somatic indices and blood values in surviving flounder were affected more in the infected, oil-treated fish than in corresponding controls. The prolonged period of patency of T. murmanensis in the oil-treated groups might be associated with immunosuppression.

An important place in meeting the needs in food of the population has fisheries. The development of this industry, the increase in production and ensuring the high quality of fish as a food product greatly depend on the animal health of the farms and timely conducting veterinary and preventive measures – the basics of providing the mepizootic well-being. Fisheries in Ukraine engaged in more than 6 thousand individuals and legal entities. However, as evidenced by the practice of recent years and results of ichthyoparasitic studies, almost all fish planting and uterine young in the fish farms of Ukraine is infested by invaders of invasive diseases, including ichthyophthiosis, argulosis, lerneosis, fingerprinting, hydrodactylosis, diplozoonosis and others. Unfortunately, one of the disadvantaged regions of Ukraine with invasive fish diseases is west. In the pond farms of Rivne and Volyn regions it is wide the parasites were distributed: diplastomids and filometers, the larvae of which affect the muscle tissue and internal organs of the fish. In the ponds of Western Polissya of Ukraine has identified 23 species of parasites belonging to the classes of Monogenea, Hirudinea, Bivalvia and Crustacea. It should be noted that in most farms mainly mixed infestations are common in the western region. In the south of Ukraine, diplo- stomosis, metogonimosis, filometridosis, lerneosis and hepaticosis were registered. In the natural reservoirs of Mykolaiv invasiveness of fish of different species by P. ovatus metacercariae was revealed. Fishes of artificial and natural reservoirs of Kharkiv region were found 16 species of parasites belonging to the classes of Trematoidea, Cestoidea, Nematoda,Acanthocephala, Crustacea, Mastigophora, Infusoria and Monogenoidea. In the fish farms of Cherkasy, Zhytomyr and Kyiv areas in most cases the fish was struck by monogeneas. In the natural waters of Sumy region were registered trienophorosis and rafidoscaridosis. It is known that the infection of fish with parasites causes a delay in its growth and development, reduction of fatness, deterioration of product and taste, impaired reproduction and even death. Therefore regular monitoring of parasitofauna of fish in the pond farms of Ukraine is necessary because study of patterns of occurrence and spread of fish diseases, prediction of those diseases affect the efficiency of aquaculture breeding and preservation of fish products.

Background: Piscinoodinium pillulare is a mandatory mastigophore protozoan with no parasitic specificity, and an important ectoparasite of tropical and temperate psiculture. This parasite is responsible for serious health problems in Brazilian native fish. Another important pathogenic protozoan in psciculture belongs to the genus Trichodina spp., which is commonly found on the surface of fish, gills, fins, and integument. The aim of the present study was to describe an outbreak of P. pillulare andTrichodina spp. in three species of fish intensively created, emphasizing the anatomopathological and epidemiological aspects.Cases: Five animals were necropsied, among them three tambaquis (Colossoma macropomu), one pirapitinga (Piaractus brachypomus) and one tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) from an intensive psciculture in the Federal District. Out of 1500 fishes, 18 (1.2%) became ill and died. It was reported that the animals showed decreased feed intake, discomfort, dyspnea, opercular movements, red skin lesions and consequent death. In the direct examination of scraping of the body surface of a fish, preparedbetween lamina and coverslip, a ciliated ectoparasite, with a circular bell shape, measuring approximately 20-180 μm, adhered, with morphology consistent with Trichodina spp. was evidenced. During necropsy, fragments of different organs were collected and fixed in 10% formalin, routinely processed for histology, embedded in paraffin, cut to five microns thick and stained with hematoxylin and eosin (HE). Macroscopically, there were pale scaly areas in the medial-lateral regions, moderate increase amountof mucus with brown to green lumps on the body surface, partial loss of the fins, swollen gills with whitish mucus and multifocal hemorrhagic areas on the skin and between the scales. Microscopically, moderate multifocal lymphoplasmocytic branchitis was observed with cell hyperplasia and fusion of secondary lamellae associated with trophons (protozoa), consistent with P. pillulare.Discussion: The diagnosis of infection by P. pillulare and Trichodina spp. in this study was based on the epidemiological and clinical-pathological findings. Regarding the first ones, we highlight the variety of fish species affected. P. pillulare is an example of a commensal parasite present on the substrate of culture tanks, and exerts a type of non-obligatory parasitism that uses the fish as a substrate for its fixation under favorable conditions. In this case, only Trichodina spp. was observed during the traditional evaluation of body surface and gills scraping, and histopathology was essential for the verification of the agent P. pillulare. Routine histopathological analysis may also provide a definitive diagnosis, observing the trophons attached to the gill filaments. Atrophy and fusion of secondary lamellae, which promote proliferative lesions in the gills associated with the interlamellar presence of parasites, are responsible for hypoxia, loss of balance and erratic movements. Although they were observed in a small number, Trichodina spp. are believed to be responsible, on a larger scale, for hemorrhagic lesions on the skin and between fish scales. These findings were similar to those of the literature, and the diagnosis of these parasites allows producers and technicians to adopt adequate treatment, as well as prophylactic measures that provide good environmental conditions in order to avoid economic losses.Keywords: fish diseases, protozoa, fish ectoparasites.

Cutaneous leishmaniasis is a parasitic disease caused by a kind of ‏ Flagellate (Mastigophora) that belongs to the Leishmania. This disease is transferred by sand flies. This research was conducted to study the effect of Syzygium aromaticum on the evolution of cutaneous leishmaniasis blister in mice infected with this disease. To study the effects of this herb on the evolution of cutaneous blister caused by Leishmania, the white mice of BALB/ c species were injected by a dose of 107 parasite\ml from the parasite farm of LON-4 Leishmania major in the sacrum. After three weeks, the blister begins to appear in the injected place like a small tumor (ulceration). It begins to grow into blister then to sore which is often accompanied with bacterial and fungal infection. Experiments were conducted into two parts. The first part includes experiments conducted on mice, while the second part includes the tissue test of cutaneous blister and making sure that it is parasite free. The study covered three groups: the negative control group which is formed from eight mice; positive control group (Pentostam group) and it is formed from eight mice injected by Pentostam drug, 120 mg\kg; Syzygium aromaticum group that was administrated different doses of 5, 10, 40, 60 mg\kg orally before treated directly by ointment of Syzygium aromaticum herb on the blister place. It was found that the infected mice treated by Syzygium aromaticum orally by a dose of 40 mg\kg and also treated by Syzygium aromaticum ointment directly on the blister place gives high percent of improvement reached 72%. Then it is followed by the group treated by Syzygium aromaticum orally by a dose of 60 mg\kg as the percent of improvement reached 52%. The results showed that the Syzygium aromaticum is the best to treat the cutaneous leishmaniasis amongst other herbs.

As proteínas que contem domínios ricos em leucina (LRR) mediam interações macromoleculares que estão envolvidas em muitos processos biológicos como infecção bacteriana em células hospedeiras e respostas imunológicas de plantas. Estudos anteriores em nosso laboratório identificaram um gene que codifica uma proteína contendo 6 LRRs (LaLRR17) em L. (L.) amazonensis. O LaLRR17 é um gene com expressão estágio regulada sendo abundantemente expresso na fase amastigota. Seqüências homólogas ao gene LaLRR17 foram encontradas em todas as espécies de Leishmania analisadas. Esse trabalho tem como objetivo a caracterização da proteína homóloga em L. (L.) major (LmLRR17). Anticorpos obtidos contra seqüências conservadas das proteínas LaLRR17 e LmLRR17 permitiram o estudo da abundância protéica em diferentes estágios do parasita. Curiosamente, a proteína LmLRR17 foi encontrada em maior abundância em promastigotas procíclicos em vez de amastigotas. Linhagens hiperexpressoras da proteína LmLRR17 ou expressoras da proteína LaLRR17 em fusão com o epitopo viral myc foram obtidas. As proteínas quiméricas foram expressas seguindo o mesmo padrão observado na cepa selvagem. O fenótipo desses mutantes foi avaliado mediante infecções de macrófagos in vitro. A hiperexpressão da proteína LmLRR17 em L. (L.) major não alterou o fenótipo da infecção in vitro. Por outro lado, a expressão da proteína heteróloga, LaLRR17, em promastigotas de L. (L.) major levou a incremento na virulência com maior número de células infectadas e de parasitas por célula. Esses resultados indicam que a expressão da proteína LmLRR17 em L. (L.) major é fortemente regulada. Esse trabalho também mostra que a expressão da proteína LaLRR17 em L. (L.) major leva a um aumento na infectividade.
Proteins containing leucine rich repeats (LRR) are known to be involved in macromolecular interactions in many processes such as signal transduction, cell-adhesion, RNA processing, apoptosis, disease resistance and immune response. A previous study in our laboratory identified a L. (L.) amazonensis gene encoding a protein containing 6 LRRs (LaLRR17). LaLRR17 is a stage-regulated gene expressed with increased abundance in the amastigote stage. Highly conserved homologues of LaLRR17 were found in all Leishmania species analyzed. Therefore, the aim of this study was to characterize the homologous protein of L. major (LmLRR17). Antibodies raised against peptide sequences common to LaLRR17 and LmLRR17 allowed the study of the steady-state protein abundance. Interestingly, LmLRR17 protein was found to be up-regulated in procyclic promastigotes, instead of amastigotes. Mutants of L. (L.) major overexpressing a myc-tagged version of LmLRR17 or of LaLRR17 protein were obtained. In these parasites, the chimeric proteins were expressed following the same pattern of expression observed in the wild type parasites. The phenotype of these mutants was assessed in vitro through macrophage infections. Overexpression of LmLRR17 protein in L. (L.) major resulted in an unaltered phenotype. On the other hand, overexpression of LaLRR17 in L. (L.) major induced an increase in virulence with a higher number of infected cells and intracellular parasites. These results indicate that the expression of LmLRR17 protein in L. major is tightly regulated and the expression of the heterologous LaLRR17 protein increased infectivity in vitro.