From field to laboratory: isolation, genetic assessment, and parasitological behavior of Schistosoma mansoni obtained from naturally infected wild rodent Holochilus sciureus (Rodentia, Cricetidae), collected in Northeastern Brazil

• Published in: Parasitology research (1987) Vol. 122; no. 2; pp. 395 - 411
• Main Authors: Miranda, Guilherme Silva, Rodrigues, João Gustavo Mendes, Resende, Samira Diniz, Camelo, Genil Mororó Araújo, Silva, Jeferson Kelvin Alves de Oliveira, dos Santos, Jose Carlos Reis, Silva-Souza, Nêuton, Pereira, Felipe Bisaggio, Furtado, Luis Fernando Viana, Rabelo, Élida Mara Leite, Negrão-Corrêa, Deborah
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Berlin/Heidelberg Springer Berlin Heidelberg 01-02-2023; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Animals; Arvicolinae; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Biomphalaria - parasitology; Brazil; Cercaria; Experimental infection; Holochilus sciureus; Humans; Immunology; Infections; Medical Microbiology; Mice; Microbiology; Mitochondrial DNA; Parasites; Phylogeny; Rodentia - parasitology; Schistosoma mansoni; Schistosoma mansoni - genetics; Schistosomiasis; Schistosomiasis mansoni - parasitology; Sigmodontinae; Sympatric populations; Trematoda; Tropical diseases; Brazil; Schistosomiasis; Genetic characterization; HS strain; Rodent wild reservoir; Holochilus sciureus; Schistosoma mansoni
• ISSN: 0932-0113; 1432-1955
• DOI: 10.1007/s00436-022-07710-5

Wild rodent species are naturally infected by
Schistosoma mansoni
; however, the genetic characterization of the parasite, its parasitological features, and its role in human schistosomiasis are poorly understood. In this study, we isolated and characterized
Schistosoma
from naturally infected
Holochilus sciureus
, called HS strain, collected from a schistosomiasis endemic region in Maranhão State, Brazil. To isolate the parasite, miracidia obtained from the livers of
H. sciureus
were used to infect
Biomphalaria glabrata
of sympatric (called SB) and allopatric (called BH) strains, and the produced cercariae were subcutaneously inoculated into hamsters and/or BALB/c mice. Parasitological kinetics in experimentally infected hosts were evaluated, and the tRNA
Cys
-12S (referred to as 16S herein) and
cox
1 regions of mtDNA from isolated worms were amplified and sequenced. Only miracidia obtained from infected mice, but not from hamsters, were capable of infecting
B. glabrata
, allowing maintenance of the isolated parasite.
Cox
1 and 16S mtDNA sequences showed 100% similarity with
S. mansoni
, and phylogenetic analysis showed that the HS strain of
S. mansoni
forms an assemblage with isolates from America and Kenya, confirming the conspecificity. Experimental infection of
B. glabrata
SB with
S. mansoni
HS resulted in two peaks of cercariae shedding at 45 and 70 days post-infection (dpi) and caused higher mortality than in
B. glabrata
BH. The worm recovery rate in mice was approximately 13%, and the peak of egg elimination occurred at the 10th week post-infection. Therefore,
S. mansoni
obtained from
H. sciureus
was successfully isolated, genetically characterized, and maintained in mice, allowing further study of this schistosome strain.