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Ultrastructure of early stages of infections in mice fed Toxoplasma gondii oocysts

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 1998

C. A. SPEER
Affiliation:
Department of Veterinary Molecular Biology, Montana State University, Bozeman, MT 59717-3610, USA
J. P. DUBEY
Affiliation:
United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service, Livestock and Poultry Sciences Institute, Parasite Biology and Epidemiology Laboratory, Beltsville, MD 20705-2350, USA

Abstract

Transmission electron microscopy was used to study Toxoplasma gondii infections in the small intestines of Swiss-Webster mice at 2–48 h post-feeding of oocysts (p.f.). Sporozoites passed through intestinal epithelial cells (enterocytes and goblet cells) and infected all cells except red blood cells in the lamina propria. Parasites in intestinal epithelial cells or in cells in the lamina propria were located within a single type of parasitophorous vacuole, which contained exocytosed electron-dense material and well-developed tubulovesicular membranous networks. Sporozoites did not infect intraepithelial lymphocytes (IELs), but at 48 h p.f. IELs had become infected with tachyzoites arising from those that had developed in the lamina propria. At 48 h p.f., the lamina propria contained numerous tachyzoites, much cellular debris, and few intact cells. The intestinal epithelium exhibited limited cytopathological changes except for villar fusion, slight vacuolation, and cell separation at the bases of enterocytes.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1998 Cambridge University Press

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