Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis and Mycobacterium avium subsp. avium are antigenically and genetically similar organisms; however, they differ in their virulence for cattle. M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis causes a chronic intestinal infection leading to a chronic wasting disease termed paratuberculosis or Johne's disease, whereas M. avium subsp. avium causes only a transient infection. We compared the response of bovine monocyte-derived macrophages to ingestion of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis and M. avium subsp. avium organisms by determining organism survival, superoxide and nitric oxide production, and expression of the cytokines tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), gamma interferon (IFN-γ), interleukin-8 (IL-8), IL-10, IL-12, and granulocyte-monocyte colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). Unlike M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis, macrophages were able to kill approximately half of the M. avium subsp. avium organisms after 96 h of incubation. This difference in killing efficiency was not related to differences in nitric oxide or superoxide production. Compared to macrophages activated with IFN-γ and lipopolysaccharide, macrophages incubated with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis showed greater expression of IL-10 and GM-CSF (all time points) and IL-8 (72 h) and less expression of IL-12 (72 h), IFN-γ (6 h), and TNF-α (6 h). When cytokine expression by macrophages incubated with M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis was compared to those of macrophages incubated with M. avium subsp. avium, M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis-infected cells showed greater expression of IL-10 (6 and 24 h) and less expression of TNF-α (6 h). Therefore, the combination of inherent resistance to intracellular degradation and suppression of macrophage activation through oversecretion of IL-10 may contribute to the virulence of M. avium subsp. paratuberculosis in cattle
A method to detect viable Cryptosporidium parvum oocysts was developed. Polyclonal immunoglobulin G against C. parvum oocyst and sporozoite surface antigens was purified from rabbit immune serum, biotinylated, and bound to streptoavidin-coated magnetic particles. C. parvum oocysts were captured by a specific antigenantibody reaction and magnetic separation. The oocysts were then induced to excyst, and DNA was extracted by heating at 95°C for 10 min. A 452-bp fragment of C. parvum DNA was amplified by using a pair of C. parvum-specific primers in PCR. The method detected as few as 10 oocysts in purified preparations and from 30 to 100 oocysts inoculated in fecal samples. The immunomagnetic capture PCR (IC-PCR) product was identified and characterized by a nested PCR that amplified a 210-bp fragment, followed by restriction endonuclease digestion of the IC-PCR and nested-PCR products at the StyI site and a nonradioactive hybridization using an internal oligonucleotide probe labeled with biotin. PCR specificity was also tested, by using DNAs from other organisms as templates. In the control experiments, inactivated oocysts were undetectable, indicating the ability of this method to differentiate between viable and nonviable oocysts. Thus, this system can be used to specifically detect viable C. parvum oocysts in environmental samples with great sensitivity, providing an efficient way to monitor the environment for C. parvum contamination.
We tested an improved immunofluorescence assay (IFA) in detecting Giardia and Cryptosporidium from feces of asymptomatic adult cervine animals. Samples were concentrated by sucrose flotation before being stained by fluorescent monoclonal antibody and examined microscopically. The detection limit was determined as 500 G. intestinalis cysts or 200 C. parvum oocysts/g of sample. Among the 82 samples collected from adult fallow deer, Columbian black-tailed deer, and Tule elk in northern California, 3 (3.7%) contained G. intestinalis cysts, which were confirmed by a species-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR) following immunomagnetic capture (IC) of cysts. C. parvum oocysts were detected in a total of 13 (15.9%) samples, and oocysts from 2 such samples were smaller than oocysts from the other 11 samples. C. parvum identification was also confirmed by specific IC-PCR and sequencing of the PCR product. In addition, a C. muris-like organism was detected in 2 (2.4%) samples. Findings obtained with the improved IFA confirmed that cysts/oocysts may pass unnoticed in adult cervine animals and that subclinically infected individuals could serve as potential carriers of infection for humans and other animals via contaminated feces or water.
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