期刊名称：Annals of Agricultural and Environmental Medicine
印刷版ISSN：1232-1966
电子版ISSN：1898-2263
出版年度：2007
卷号：14
期号：02
页码：287-287
出版社：Institute of Agricultural Medicine in Lublin
摘要：In this study we report the usefulness of nested PCR for screening of the persistent
B. microti infections in rodent hosts. Female BALB/c mice were inoculated with
100 μl of donor blood infected with B. microti. Infections were detected using microscopic
examination of Giemsa-stained blood smears. To determine whether B. microti
DNA was present in blood and/or spleen tissue, nested PCR was performed targeting a
specifi c fragment of the gene encoding the 18S rRNA. Blood was sampled every 10 days
post-infection (dpi) until day 30, after which mice were sampled every 30 days until the
end of experiment at 360 dpi. The most extensive parasitaemia (39% of infected erythrocytes)
was observed at 10 dpi. Between 20-60 dpi, less then 1% of infected erythrocytes
were detected in blood smears, and from 90 dpi onwards, infected erythrocytes were
no longer observed. B. microti DNA was successfully amplifi ed from the blood of mice
from 10 dpi until 180 dpi, as well as from spleens of infected mice at 10 and 20 dpi. The
presented results show that nested PCR is the method of choice for monitoring infections
of B. microti in the blood of rodent hosts, and could therefore be a tool for environmental
monitoring of naturally infected rodents which are the predominant source of infection
for tick vectors.
