Babesia bigemina: In vitro multiplication of sporokinetes in Ixodes scapularis (IDE8) cells

In vitro cultivation and cryopreservation of Babesia bigemina sporokinetes in hemocytes of Rhipicephalus microplus

“…Morphometric data for vermicular forms of B. bigemina are shown in Table 1, and were in agreement with the dimensions reported by other workers (Guglielmone et al, 1996;Barreira et al, 2005;Ribeiro et al, 2009). Importantly, no significant differences were recorded between B. bigemina cells derived from the three sample types examined, demonstrating that the principal morphological features of the sporokinetes were maintained in primary cultures and upon recovery following cryopreservation.…”

“…Mosqueda et al (2003) inoculated B. bigemina sporokinetes from R. microplus hemolymph into primary embryonic cells of the same tick species and reported viability for up to 10 days. More recently, Ribeiro et al (2009) observed intracellular forms of B. bigemina sporokinetes in cultures of the established tick cell line IDE8. In that study, multiplication of the parasite within the cells was reported for up to 8 days.…”

“…In this context, cultures of embryonic tick cells are model systems for the study of vector and pathogen life cycles, and show potential as a substrate for the production of low-cost antigens for diagnostic purposes and vaccine development (Mosqueda et al, 2003;Ribeiro et al, 2009).…”

In vitroCulture of a Novel Genotype ofEhrlichiasp. from Brazil

“…To obtain haemolymph, ticks were treated basically as described by Ribeiro et al. (). Briefly, engorged females were washed, blotted dry and disinfected before being individually placed into polystyrene plates and incubated at 27°C and a relative humidity over 83%.…”

An Ixodes scapularis cell line with a predominantly neuron-like phenotype

“…Ixodes scapularis -derived cells have also been used to study vector-pathogen interactions, such as the expression of variant proteins of several Anaplasmataceae members in response to the tick environment (Nelson et al 2008; Kuriakose et al 2011; Chávez et al 2012), and differential expression of Rickettsia prowazekii genes during growth in mammalian and arthropod cells (Tucker et al 2011). Arboviruses and eukaryotes such as Babesia have also been propagated and studied in I. scapularis cells (Lawrie et al 2004; Garcia et al 2005; Ribeiro et al 2009). Furthermore, ISE6 cells have become an important model for molecular study using RNAi of tick genes important for decreasing pathogen transmission and understanding tick biology, and are amenable to genetic manipulation (Kurtti et al 2008; Naranjo et al 2013).…”