Vet World   Vol.16   April-2023  Article-21

Detection of Trypanosoma evansi in a naturally infected cat in Indonesia using bioassay and molecular techniques

Background and Aim: The prevalence of surra in domestic cat is seldom and it is caused by Trypanosoma brucei and Trypanosoma evansi. However, molecular diagnostic approaches are required owing to similarities in their morphology. In Yogyakarta, a domestic cat was diagnosed with trypanosomiasis; however, the causative species was undetermined. Therefore, we aimed to molecularly and biologically identify the isolate. .

Materials and Methods: Approximately 1 mL of blood from an infected cat was collected into EDTA tube and separated for inoculation into donor mice, blood smear, and DNA isolation. Two donor mice was then used for increasing the number of parasite in order to infect 10 experimental mice. Parasitemia was monitored daily in each experimental mouse by preparing a wet mount and Giemsa-stained thin blood smear. The blood of experimental mice that reached the peak of parasitemia was then collected and used for DNA isolation. Each blood sample, which collected from infected cat and experimental mice, was then isolated and amplified the DNA by polymerase chain reaction using ITS-1. The parasitemia pattern and viability of the animals were observed to determine the biological characteristics of trypanosomatid, while to assess the molecular characteristics, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS)-1 amplification was used.

Results: The prepatent period of this trypanosomatid is between 2 and 4 dpi, whereas the life span of mice is approximately 4–10 dpi. Morphologically, the trypomastigote in the cat blood smear had long slender and intermediate shapes. However, only the long slender form was detected. Among the total of 410 nucleotides (NT) of ITS-1 sequences, 25 NT substitutions differed between the cat and mouse isolates. Phylogenetic analysis revealed that both samples had a close genetic relationship with T. evansi.

Conclusion: Trypanosoma evansi, a highly virulent trypanosomatid, was isolated from a cat in Yogyakarta. Keywords: bioassay, feline, internal transcribed spacer-1 molecular detection, Trypanosoma evansi.

Keywords: bioassay, feline, internal transcribed spacer-1 molecular detection, Trypanosoma evansi.

How to cite this article: Priyowidodo D, Sahara A, Prastowo J, Nurcahyo W, and Firdausy LW (2023) Detection of

Received: 29-11-2022  Accepted: 13-03-2023     Published online: 20-04-2023

Corresponding author:    E-mail: priyo@ugm.ac.id

DOI: 10.14202/vetworld.2023.828-833

Copyright: Priyowidodo, et al. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http:// creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.