Publication details
Comparative external morphology of developmental stages of gastric Cryptosporidium spp. from endothermic and poikilothermic hosts
| Authors | |
|---|---|
| Year of publication | 2007 |
| Type | Article in Periodical |
| Magazine / Source | Protistology |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Field | Zoology |
| Keywords | Cryptosporidium; attachment; parasitophorous vacuole; epicellular |
| Description | Cryptosporidium is a vertebrate pathogen that has gained much attention in the last years due to its phylogenetic affinities within the phylum Apicomplexa. In Cryptosporidium spp., the invasive stage (zoite) is finally enveloped by parasitophorous vacuole, the inner membrane of which originates from plasma membrane of the apical region of affected gastric cells. Together with the zoite envelopment, a unique structure (feeder organelle) is formed at the zoite-host cell interference zone. Scanning electron microscopic examination of the developmental stages of Cryptosporidium muris Tyzzer, 1910 from the stomach of experimentally infected multimammate rats (Mastomys natalensis) and gastric Cryptosporidium sp. from naturally infected toads (Bufo sp.) showed differences in the attachment strategy of the cryptosporidians depending on density of Cryptosporidium developmental stages and character of the microvillous border of gastric cells. According to our transmission electron microscopic observations on C. muris and Cryptosporidium sp., zoites attach to the host microvillous surface, being apparently epicellular and not intracellular-extracytoplasmic as it is traditionally referred to. The enveloped zoites obviously do not come into close contact with the host cell cytoplasm, except for the region of a feeder organelle. |
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