Resumo

KARIUKI, Christopher; KAGIRA, John M.; MWADIME, Victor  e  NGOTHO, Maina. Virulence and pathogenicity of three Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense stabilates in a Swiss white mouse model. Afr. J. Lab. Med. [online]. 2015, vol.4, n.1, pp.1-5. ISSN 2225-2010.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4102/ajlm.v4i1.137.

BACKGROUND: A key objective in basic research on human African trypanosomiasis (HAT) is developing a cheap and reliable experimental model of the disease for use in pathogenesis and drug studies OBJECTIVE: With a view to improving current models, a study was undertaken to characterise the virulence and pathogenicity of three Trypanosoma brucei rhodesiense stabilates, labelled as International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)-2918, ILRI-3953, and Institute of Primate Research (IPR)-001, infected into Swiss white mice. METHODS: Swiss white mice were infected intraperitoneally with trypanosomes and observed for parasitaemia using wet blood smears obtained by tail snipping. Induction of late-stage disease was undertaken using diminazene aceturate (40 mg/kg, Berenil) with curative treatment done using melarsoprol (3.6 mg/kg, Arsobal). RESULTS: The prepatent period for the stabilates ranged from three to four days with mean peak parasitaemia ranging from Log₁₀ 6.40 to 8.36. First peak parasitaemia for all stabilates varied between six and seven days post infection (DPI) followed by secondary latency in ILRI-2918 (15-17 DPI) and IPR-001 (17-19 DPI). Survival times ranged from six DPI (ILRI-3953) to 86 DPI (IPR-001). Hindleg paresis was observed in both ILRI-3953 (at peak parasitaemia) and ILRI-2918 (after relapse parasitaemia). Mice infected with IPR-001 survived until 54 DPI when curative treatment was undertaken. CONCLUSIONS: This study demonstrated that the stabilates ILRI-2918 and ILRI-3953 were unsuitable for modelling late-stage HAT in mice. The stabilate IPR-001 demonstrated the potential to induce chronic trypanosomiasis in Swiss white mice for use in development of a late-stage model of HAT.

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