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Setaria digitata microfilaraemia in Mastomys coucha: an animal model for chemotherapeutic and immunobiological studies

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

S. Mukhopadhyay ,
A. P. Dash  and
B. Ravindran
S. Mukhopadhyay
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Immunology, Regional Medical Research Centre, (Indian Council of Medical Research), Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-751 016, India
A. P. Dash
Affiliation:
Division of Entomology, Regional Medical Research Centre, (Indian Council of Medical Research), Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-751 016, India
B. Ravindran*
Affiliation:
Division of Applied Immunology, Regional Medical Research Centre, (Indian Council of Medical Research), Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-751 016, India
*
*Corresponding author. Divison of Applied Immunology, Regional Medical Research Centre (ICMR), Chandrasekharpur, Bhubaneswar-751 016, India. Tel: 0674 440764. Fax: 0674 440974. E-mail: icmrrcbh@ren.nic.in.
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Summary

Intraperitoneal implantation of adult gravid females of the bovine filarial parasite, Setaria digitata in Mastomys coucha was found to induce microfilaraemia lasting for about 125 days. The microfilariae (mf) could be detected as early as 4 days postimplantation (p.i.) and peak levels of about 30 mf in 20 µl of blood were observed by 21 days. A significant positive correlation was found between mf density and the body weight of recipients pre-implantation. The implanted adult worms were generally viable only for less than 1 week. Implantation resulted in a significant decrease in total leucocytes and erythrocytes, induction of eosinophilia, splenomegaly and anti-erythrocyte autoantibodies. The microfilariae in circulation developed into 3rd-stage infective larvae (L3) when fed onto Aedes aegypti (refm, Liverpool strain). The mf in circulation were found to be eliminated by oral administration of diethylcarbamazine citrate, indicating the usefulness of this model for screening potential anti-microfilarial drugs. During the microfilaraemic phase, priming with tetanus toxoid (TT) resulted in significantly decreased production of anti-toxin levels indicating a state of generalized immunosuppression. Induction of antibodies to various fractionated antigenic components of adult parasites could be demonstrated by enzyme immunoassay (EIA) in M. coucha implanted with live or cold-stunned adult worms. The S. digitata–M. coucha model thus is found amenable to perform chemotherapeutic and immunobiological investigations in experimental filariasis.

Keywords

Setaria digitataMastomys couchamicrofilaraemiadiethylcarbamazineanimal model
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 113 , Issue 4 , October 1996 , pp. 323 - 330
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1996

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