The aim of the present study was to confirm observations on the vertical transmission of Schistosoma japonicum in the rabbit. S. japonicum-infected pregnant rabbits were used in this study. Perfusion of mother rabbits was done 9 weeks after infection in order to obtain worm burdens in relation to their initial cercarial dose. Anti-schistosoma specific IgM antibodies in serum samples collected from rabbit kittens were detected by ELISA. Our results showed that gestation period lasted the normal 29-31 days. All the exposed mother rabbits became infected with S. japonicum. Positive IgM antibody OD values were detected in 12 out of the 60 kittens examined (20.0%). In group C and A, 40.0% and 17.9% of the kitten were congenitally infected, respectively. 18.1% of the kittens born to mothers infected with a single dose of 200 cercariae per rabbit were positives; this is not significantly different from that obtained for the 600 dose group (22.2%). Three randomly selected IgM+ kittens harbored between one and two adult worms. The livers of these kittens displayed granulomatous lesions. It is concluded that congenital S. japonicum infection does occur in the rabbit and is affected by the mother stage of pregnancy and to a lesser extent by its infection load.
Antibodies, Helminth/blood ; *Disease Transmission, Vertical ; Immunoglobulin M/blood ; Schistosoma japonicum/immunology ; Schistosoma japonicum/isolation & purification ; Schistosomiasis japonica/*transmission

Animals ; DNA, Helminth ; isolation & purification ; Genome, Helminth ; Polymerase Chain Reaction ; methods ; Schistosoma japonicum ; genetics

OBJECTIVETo screen and identify differentially expressed proteins between adult female and male worms of Schistosoma japonicum(S.japonicum).

METHODSTwo rabbits infected with the cercaria were perfused with saline in carotid, and approximately two hundred adult female and two hundred male worms of S.japonicum were collected. Approximately 300 microg soluble and hydrophobic proteins of adult female and male worms of S.japonicum were extracted and then the proteins were separated by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis respectively. The analysis using ImageMaster Platinum 2D 5.0 resulted in differentially expressed proteins between adult female and male worms, which were subjected to matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF-MS) and tandem mass spectrometry sequencing of tryptic peptides.

RESULTSThere were (255 +/- 10) and (224 +/- 12) spots detected for soluble proteins and (200 +/- 11) and (132 +/- 8) spots for hydrophobic proteins from adult female and male worms respectively. Six differential proteins were identified, five up-regulated proteins in female worms were thioredoxin, putative ferritin-1 heavy chain, chain B in solution structure of the human ubiquitin-conjugating-enzyme-like protein Mms2-Ubiquitin Complex, heat shock protein 10, cytoplasmic fatty acid binding protein variant H; while only one up-regulated proteins in male worms was identified as 48 kDa histamine receptor subunit peptide 4.

CONCLUSIONSeveral differentially expressed proteins between female and male worms of S. japonicum were recognized through screening and identifying differential proteins between female and male worms of S.japonicum.

Animals ; Electrophoresis, Gel, Two-Dimensional ; Female ; Helminth Proteins ; isolation & purification ; Male ; Mass Spectrometry ; Proteome ; isolation & purification ; Rabbits ; Schistosoma japonicum ; chemistry

Schistosomiasis is a kind of common disease around the riverside or lakeside areas, especially popular in rural areas, and causes huge economic loss. Based on existing schistosomiasis dynamic models and data, a new method of working out coefficients, and an improved model were provided in our study. The improved model can be applied to the study of the characteristics of transmission of schistosomiasis, and the effect of new control methods for schistosomiasis was evaluated.
Animals ; Cattle ; China ; Computer Simulation ; Humans ; Models, Theoretical ; Numerical Analysis, Computer-Assisted ; Schistosoma japonicum ; isolation & purification ; Schistosomiasis japonica ; epidemiology ; prevention & control ; transmission ; Snails ; parasitology

The aim of the present study was to confirm observations on the vertical transmission of Schistosoma japonicum in the rabbit. S. japonicum-infected pregnant rabbits were used in this study. Perfusion of mother rabbits was done 9 weeks after infection in order to obtain worm burdens in relation to their initial cercarial dose. Anti-schistosoma specific IgM antibodies in serum samples collected from rabbit kittens were detected by ELISA. Our results showed that gestation period lasted the normal 29-31 days. All the exposed mother rabbits became infected with S. japonicum. Positive IgM antibody OD values were detected in 12 out of the 60 kittens examined (20.0%). In group C and A, 40.0% and 17.9% of the kitten were congenitally infected, respectively. 18.1% of the kittens born to mothers infected with a single dose of 200 cercariae per rabbit were positives; this is not significantly different from that obtained for the 600 dose group (22.2%). Three randomly selected IgM+ kittens harbored between one and two adult worms. The livers of these kittens displayed granulomatous lesions. It is concluded that congenital S. japonicum infection does occur in the rabbit and is affected by the mother stage of pregnancy and to a lesser extent by its infection load.
Animals ; Antibodies, Helminth ; blood ; Female ; Immunoglobulin M ; blood ; Infectious Disease Transmission, Vertical ; Pregnancy ; Rabbits ; Schistosoma japonicum ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Schistosomiasis japonica ; transmission

OBJECTIVE: To develop a rapid and simple immunoassay to detect antibodies in the sera of patients infect Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum). METHODS: Soluble egg antigen (SEA) of S. japonicum conjugated with colloidal carbon in advance was used to react with the antibodies in the sera of patients with schistosomiasis. Then the carbon-antigen-antibody complex would be captured by SEA which had been absorbed on the nitrocellulose membrane and a gray band was shown. RESULTS: A total of 137 sera samples from S. japonicum epidemic area were tested, and the consistency, sensitivity, and specificity of colloidal carbon dipstick assay were 98.54%, 98.99%, and 97.37%, respectively, compared with the IHA method. The gray scale of bands on the dipstick was curvilinear to serum titer which revealed that the assay could be used semi-quantitatively in serum analysis. CONCLUSION Colloidal carbon dipstick assay is not only rapid and simple, but also sensitive and specific for the detection of serum antibodies of schistosomiasis japonica. It will be a practical immunological assay for the diagnosis of schistosomiasis in the field testing.
Animals ; Antibodies, Helminth ; blood ; Carbon ; chemistry ; Colloids ; chemistry ; Humans ; Immunoassay ; methods ; Schistosoma japonicum ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Schistosomiasis japonica ; blood ; diagnosis ; Sensitivity and Specificity

The authors report here a rare case of cerebellar schistosomiasis identified by pathological diagnosis, lacking extracranial involvement. The clinical symptoms included headache, dizziness, and nausea. Studies in blood were normal and no parasite eggs were detected in stool. Computed tomography of brains showed hypodense signal, and magnetic resonance imaging showed isointense signal on T1-weighted images, hyperintense signal on T2-weighted images, and intensely enhancing nodules in the right cerebellum after intravenous administration of gadolinium. A high-grade glioma was suspected, and an operation was performed. The pathologic examination of the biopsy specimen revealed schistosomal granulomas scattered within the parenchyma of the cerebellum. The definitive diagnosis was cerebellar schistosomiasis japonica. A standard use of praziquantel and corticosteroid drugs was applied, and the prognosis was good. When the pattern of imaging examinations is present as mentioned above, a diagnosis of brain schistosomiasis should be considered.
Adrenal Cortex Hormones/therapeutic use ; Animals ; Brain Diseases/drug therapy/*parasitology/pathology/radiography ; Cerebellum/*parasitology/radiography ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Praziquantel/therapeutic use ; Schistosoma japonicum/isolation & purification ; Schistosomiasis japonica/drug therapy/*parasitology/pathology/radiography

OBJECTIVETo clarify the change of vegetation types and its relationship between the density of alive-snails in the areas of "breaking dikes or opening sluice for water store" in Jicheng.

METHODSSynthesized false color images of Jicheng before and after 1998 (1994 and 2003) were classified without supervision and results were compared. Vegetation types were identified on the spot.

RESULTSNormalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) of snail habitats before 1998 were between 126 and 183 in Jicheng, whose vegetation types were mainly paddy, cotton and cabbage. NDVI of snail habitats in Jicheng after 1998 were between 152 and 193 whose vegetation types were mainly poplar forest, bulrush and grass. Areas of snail habitats increased from 64.64% to 66.47%. Snail habitats were mostly composed of mixed vegetation types and mono-typed vegetation was hardly found. According to the density of alive-snails orders from high to low were poplar forest and bulrush, poplar forest and grass, bulrush.

CONCLUSIONVegetation types would not be identified by unsupervised classification only. Poplar forest, bulrush and grass were closedly related to the density of alive-snails.

Animals ; Breeding ; China ; epidemiology ; Disease Vectors ; Ecology ; Environmental Monitoring ; Epidemiological Monitoring ; Fresh Water ; Plants ; Satellite Communications ; instrumentation ; Schistosoma japonicum ; isolation & purification ; Schistosomiasis japonica ; epidemiology ; transmission ; Snails ; growth & development ; parasitology ; physiology

BACKGROUNDNowadays it is now a focus topic in schistosomiasis research to find ideal vaccine candidates and new drug targets for developing anti-schistosomiasis vaccine. We cloned a new gene, casein kinase II beta subunit, of Schistosoma japonicum (S. japonicum) and express it in Escherichia coli (E. coli).

METHODSThe ESTs obtained in our laboratory were analyzed by homologous searching, and a new gene was recognized. The full-length cDNA of the new gene was obtained by joining the 3'RACE PCR fragment and the EST clone. To express the new gene, the cDNA was cloned into pGEX-4T-1 vector and then transformed into E. coli JM109. The recombinant protein was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and Western-blot.

RESULTSA 908 bp cDNA was isolated from S. japonicum and identified to be casein kinase II beta subunit gene by sequence analysis. The open reading frame of the gene encodes a protein of 217 amino acids exhibiting 75.8%, 75.8%, 73.9%, 68.2%, 51.6% identity to the amino acids sequence of the corresponding genes of Homo sapiens (H. sapiens), Xenopus laevi (X. laevi), Drosophila melanogaster (D. melanogaster), Caenorhabditis elegan (C. elegan), and Schizosaccharomyces pombe (S. promber) respectively. The predicted molecular weight of the protein was 24.921 kDa. The new cDNA sequence had been submitted to GenBank, and its accession number is AY241391. This cDNA was subcloned into the pGEX-4T-1 vector and expressed in E. coli JM109. The recombinant protein could be recognized by the S. japonicum infected rabbit serum.

CONCLUSIONThe full-length cDNA sequences encoding S. japonicum casein kinase II beta subunit were firstly sequenced, cloned, and expressed in E. coli.

Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; Base Sequence ; Blotting, Western ; Casein Kinase II ; chemistry ; genetics ; Cloning, Molecular ; DNA, Complementary ; chemistry ; isolation & purification ; Escherichia coli ; genetics ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Rabbits ; Schistosoma japonicum ; enzymology ; genetics

A cDNA fragment locating at the putative envelop protein 2(E2) region of GBV-C/HGV fused with Schistosoma japonicum, glutathione S-transferase(GST) was amplified with PCR from plasmid pGEX-E2. The amplified DNA fragment was inserted into plasmid pGEX-5X-1, at the downstream of the coding sequences of GST, in the same reading frame with the gene of GST. The fusion gene fragment of GST-E2 was amplified with PCR, using the recombinant plasmid pGEX-5X-1-E2 as the template. The amplified 1324 bp DNA fragment of GST-E2 was inserted into Pichia pastoris expression vector pPIC9K in reading frame with alpha-factor secreting signal peptide. The plasmid pPIC9K-GST-E2 was transformed into Pichia pastoris GS115 with electroporation. The transformants (His+ Muts) were selected and induced to express the 54kD GST-E2 fusion protein, which could be specially recognized by both the antisera directed against E2 and against GST. The GST-E2 fusion protein was purified with Sepharose 4B glutathione affinity chromatography to a purity of 95%. The expression was optimized to achieve the highest expression level of GST-E2 fusion protein which was accumulated up to 50% of total proteins in the culture supernatant. The GST-E2 protein derived from the recombinant Pichia pastoris was proved possessing antigenicity and high specificity by ELISA, probed with sera from the patients infected by GBV-C/HGV.
Animals ; Antigens, Viral ; genetics ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; GB virus C ; genetics ; immunology ; Gene Expression ; Genetic Engineering ; Glutathione Transferase ; genetics ; Hepatitis Antibodies ; blood ; immunology ; Humans ; Pichia ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; isolation & purification ; Schistosoma japonicum ; enzymology ; Viral Envelope Proteins ; genetics ; immunology ; isolation & purification