Abstract
BackgroundTrichinellosis, caused by Trichinella spiralis, is a serious foodborne parasitic zoonosis. Tibetan pig is an infrequent, endemic plateau pig species, mainly distributed in Tibet Plateau, China. Because of the free-range system, Tibetan pigs are at risk of infection with Trichinella. The present study aimed to primarily profile the characteristics of T. spiralis infection in Tibetan pigs, including IgG levels, larvae burdens, and cytokines.ResultsThe immune responses to Chinese Tibet T. spiralis isolate infection in Tibetan pigs with different doses were investigated in a tracking duration of 49 days. The muscle larvae per gram (lpg) were evaluated at 105 days post-infection (dpi). The results showed that the mean larval number of T. spiralis in Tibetan pigs increased with infective dose, with average lpg values of 3.5, 50.4 and 115.6 for Tibetan pigs infected with 200, 2,000, and 20,000 muscle larvae (ML) of T. spiralis. The anti-Trichinella IgG increased with inoculum dose and dpi, and peaked at 49 dpi. The kinetics of cytokines in the sera was detected by microarray, including interferon-γ (IFN-γ), interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-8, IL-12, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, Granulocyte-macrophage Colony Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1. The Th1/Th2 mixed cytokines were detectable in all samples. Interleukin-12 demonstrated the highest concentration compared to other cytokines and peaked at 42 dpi. Almost all cytokines were maintained at a high level at 42 dpi. Additionally, we also report a Trichinella seropositive rate of 43.9 % (18 out of 41) from field samples of Tibetan pigs.ConclusionsThe present study showed an increased Th1/Th2 mixed cytokines in Tibetan pigs elicited by T. spiralis. The high seroprevalence of Trichinella infection in field samples of Tibetan pigs further raises serious concern for the prevention and control of trichinellosis in this host for public health safety.
Highlights
Trichinellosis, caused by Trichinella spiralis, is a serious foodborne parasitic zoonosis
The result demonstrates a positive correlation between infective dose and the mean larval burden, with average lpg values of 3.5, 50.4 and 115.6 for Tibetan pigs infected with 200 muscle larvae (ML), 2,000 ML, and 20,000 ML doses of T. spiralis
The highest burdened of ML after different doses of T. spiralis infection were found in the diaphragm and tongue of Tibetan pigs, which were identified as the susceptible tissues
Summary
Trichinellosis, caused by Trichinella spiralis, is a serious foodborne parasitic zoonosis. Because of the free-range system, Tibetan pigs are at risk of infection with Trichinella. The present study aimed to primarily profile the characteristics of T. spiralis infection in Tibetan pigs, including IgG levels, larvae burdens, and cytokines. Trichinella shows a worldwide distribution because of its wide range of hosts, including humans and pigs [2]. Human infection is mainly caused by the consumption of raw or undercooked meat containing infective larvae of Trichinella [3]. Many human outbreaks reported in recent years across Europe, Asia, and North and South America were reportedly due to consumption of wild boar meat which is currently the second most important source of human trichinellosis [5]. From 1964 to 2011, the cost of treating human cases was about $150 million [7]
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