Abstract
Diarrheal disease is a leading cause of pediatric death in economically low resource countries. Cryptosporidium spp. are the second largest member of this group and the only member for which no treatment exists. One of the handicaps to developing chemotherapy is the lack of a reproducible long-term culture method permitting in vitro drug screening beyond 48 h. We have adapted the well-established hollow fiber technology to provide an environment that mimics the gut by delivering nutrients and oxygen from the basal layer upwards while allowing separate redox and nutrient control of the lumen for parasite development. Using this technique, oocyst production was maintained for >6 months, producing approximately 1 × 108 oocysts ml-1 day-1, compared with 48 h with a yield of 1 × 106 oocysts ml-1 in two-dimensional cultures. Oocysts, after 4 and 20 weeks in culture, produced a chronic infection in a TCR-α-deficient mouse model. In vivo infectivity of oocysts was confirmed using oocysts from a 6 week culture in a dexamethasone immunosuppressed mouse model.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 21-29 |
Number of pages | 9 |
Journal | International Journal for Parasitology |
Volume | 46 |
Issue number | 1 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2016 |
Keywords
- Anaerobic
- Cryptosporidium
- Hollow-fiber
- In vitro culture
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Parasitology
- Infectious Diseases