Cysticercosis in experimentally and naturally infected pigs: parasitological and immunological diagnosis

Our objective was to evaluate the diagnosis of swine cysticercosis by examining "ante mortem" (inspection of the tongue), "post mortem" (inspection and detailed necropsy) and ELISA for research in serum of antibodies (Ab-ELISA) and antigens (Ag-ELISA). Seven (7) pigs were experimentally infected orally with eggs of Taenia solium and another 10 were naturally infected. In the pigs experimentally infected, inspection of the tongue was negative in all animals, in the routine inspection detailed necropsy and cysticercis were identified in all of them. In pigs with heavy natural infection, inspection of the tongue identified cysticerci in two (20%), while at inspection with necropsy the parasites were identified in large quantities in all animals. In ELISA for antibody search (Ab-ELISA) TS-14 recombinant protein was used, and in search for antigen (Ag-ELISA) a monoclonal antibody against this protein. In animals experimentally infected, blood was collected weekly for 140 days. The Ab-ELISA identified an increase in titers of antibody to cysticerci 21 days after infection, and at the end of the experimental period six animals (86%) were positive to the test. The search for circulating antigens (Ag-ELISA) was positive in two pigs 28 to 91 days after infection. All naturally infected pigs were positive for Ag-ELISA and Ab-ELISA. The search for antibodies and antigens by ELISA in serum from 30 pigs of a local farm and without history of cysticercosis was negative. Thus, the use of TS-14 antigen in ELISA test (Ab-ELISA) can be useful for the diagnosis of cysticercosis in pigs with low infection

Identification of putative regulatory regions and transcription factors associated with intramuscular fat content traits.

Background: Integration of high throughput DNA genotyping and RNA-sequencing data allows for the identification of genomic regions that control gene expression, known as expression quantitative trait loci (eQTL), on a whole genome scale. Intramuscular fat (IMF) content and carcass composition play important roles in metabolic and physiological processes in mammals because they influence insulin sensitivity and consequently prevalence of metabolic diseases such as obesity and type 2 diabetes. However, limited information is available on the genetic variants and mechanisms associated with IMF deposition in mammals. Thus, our hypothesis was that eQTL analyses could identify putative regulatory regions and transcription factors (TFs) associated with intramuscular fat (IMF) content traits. Results: We performed an integrative eQTL study in skeletal muscle to identify putative regulatory regions and factors associated with intramuscular fat content traits. Data obtained from skeletal muscle samples of 192 animals was used for association analysis between 461,466 SNPs and the transcription level of 11,808 genes. This yielded 1268 cis- and 10,334 trans-eQTLs, among which we identified nine hotspot regions that each affected the expression of > 119 genes. These putative regulatory regions overlapped with previously identified QTLs for IMF content. Three of the hotspots respectively harbored the transcription factors USF1, EGR4 and RUNX1T1, which are known to play important roles in lipid metabolism. From co-expression network analysis, we further identified modules significantly correlated with IMF content and associated with relevant processes such as fatty acid metabolism, carbohydrate metabolism and lipid metabolism. Conclusion: This study provides novel insights into the link between genotype and IMF content as evident from the expression level. It thereby identifies genomic regions of particular importance and associated regulatory factors. These new findings provide new knowledge about the biological processes associated with genetic variants and mechanisms associated with IMF deposition in mammals.Made available in DSpace on 2018-12-22T23:35:36Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 APIdentificationCesaretal.pdf: 9576475 bytes, checksum: 54bfa0c637b06996ccf50a3c023171bd (MD5) Previous issue date: 2018-12-20bitstream/item/189052/1/AP-Identification-Cesar-etal.pdfArticle number: 499. Na publicação: Luciana C. A. Regitano, Maurício A. Mudadu, Adhemar Zerlotini