Pathological, Molecular, and Biochemical Characterization of Coenurus gaigeri in Iranian Native Goats

Abstract

Coenurus gaigeri is the larval stage of Taenia multiceps gaigeri, which infects the muscles of goats and, to a lesser extent, sheep. Metacestodes of the goat such as Coenurus cerebralis, Cysticercus tenuicollis, Cysticercus ovis, and hydatid cysts have been extensively studied. However, because of the uncommon occurrence of C. gaigeri, very few records exist of its biology, pathogenesis, and pathology. Therefore, an investigation was conducted in the summer of 2008 at Shiraz Slaughterhouse, where 2.6% of the goats were infected with intramuscular cysts. Scolices from coenuri were collected for morphologic analysis, and the cysts were identified as C. gaigeri, the intermediate stage of T. multiceps gaigeri. In addition, molecular genetic markers of mitochondrial DNA were applied phylogenetically to resolve the questionable relationship between C. gaigeri and C. cerebralis. All coenuri fluids were aspirated and centrifuged separately; the supernatants were analyzed for biochemical features that included glucose, total protein, urea nitrogen, uric acid, triglycerides, cholesterol, creatinine, calcium, sodium, potassium, alanine aminotransferase, and aspartate aminotransferase. The pathologic changes around the coenuri included mechanical destruction of the affected tissues, associated with degenerative and necrotic changes, infiltration by polymorphonuclear and mononuclear cells, proliferation of fibroblasts, and development of adventitious tissue. Results based on phylogenetic analysis of the mitochondrial DNA (CO1 and ND1) suggest that the larval stages of T. multiceps gaigeri and C. cerebralis, which showed similar morphological criteria, are monophyletic species. However, C. gaigeri interestingly were situated in the biceps femoris, triceps, and abdominal muscles without localization in the nervous system.

Diagnosis and surgical management of non-cerebral coenurosis (Taenia gaigeri) in local Black Bengal goat of Tripura: report of six cases

“…The coenurus cysts seen in locations outside the CNS in goats were recorded as T. multiceps (Bhalla and Negi 1962;Sing and Sing 1972;Sharma et al 1995) or T. gaigeri (Hago and Abu-Samra 1980;Varma and Malviya 1989;Moghaddar 2007). Molecular and morphological evidences have also shown that T. multiceps and T. gaigeri are not separate species but are the same strain (Oryan et al 2010;Varcasia et al 2012).…”

Application of polymerase chain reaction on cerebrospinal fluid for diagnosis of cerebral coenurosis in small ruminants

“…The previous studies have demonstrated the use of the cox1 gene of larval stages of T. multiceps from brain and muscle sources for molecular characterization (Gasser et al 1999;Oryan et al 2010;Li et al 2013;Rostami et al 2013). Therefore, the present molecular genetic approach was employed to characterize the DNA sequence of the metacestodal stage of T. multiceps and compare it with other available taeniid data from other countries.…”

“…The DNA samples were stored at −20°C until further use. The mtDNA was amplified using specific primers for cytochrome C oxidase 1 (cox1) JB3/JB4 (5′-TTT TTT GGG CAT CCT GAG GTT TAT-3′/5′-TAA AGA AAG AAC ATA ATG AAA ATG-3′) (Bowles et al 1992;Oryan et al 2010). The 50-μl PCR mixture contained 10 mM Tris-HCl, pH 8.4, 50 mM KCl, 1.5 mM MgCl 2 , 200 μM dNTPs, 20 pmol of each primer, 2 U Taq polymerase (Fermentas, Glen Burnie, MD), and 8 μl of DNA extracted as template.…”

“…In the present study, we used the mitochondrial (cox1) sequence as the genetic marker to investigate the presence of parasite DNA in CSF. This molecular region is the most frequently used marker for discrimination of the closely related parasites Varcasia et al 2006;Oryan et al 2010;Rostami et al 2013). Mitochondrial (mt) DNA is known to have a faster evolutionary rate than the nuclear DNA and is generally inherited maternally in almost all metazoans (Li et al 2013).…”

Non-Cerebral Coenurosis in Goats-A Case Study

“…In non-cerebral coenurosis of goats there will be lameness, paresis and paralysis together with outgrowing skin lumps, due to the subcutaneous cysts, are the major clinical manifestation (Ramadan et al, 1973;Oryan et al, 2010Oryan et al, , 2012. In the present study, the animals despite having their parasitism, would appear healthy.…”