Calcium ions are involved in egress of Babesia bovis
merozoites from bovine erythrocytes |
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Authors: | Ehab MOSSAAD Masahito ASADA Daichi NAKATANI Noboru INOUE Naoaki YOKOYAMA Osamu KANEKO Shin-ichiro KAWAZU |
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Institution: | 1)National Research Center for Protozoan Diseases, Obihiro University of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Obihiro, Hokkaido 080–8555, Japan;2)Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University, Sakamoto, Nagasaki 852–8523, Japan |
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Abstract: | Bovine babesiosis is a livestock disease known to cause economic losses in
endemic areas. The apicomplexan parasite Babesia bovis is able to invade
and destroy the host’s erythrocytes leading to the serious pathologies of the disease,
such as anemia and hemoglobinuria. Understanding the egress mechanisms of this parasite is
therefore a key step to develop new therapeutic strategies. In this study, the possible
involvement of Ca2+ in the egress of B. bovis merozoites from
infected erythrocytes was investigated. Egress was artificially induced in
vitro using calcium ionophore A23187 and thapsigargin to increase
Ca2+ concentration in the cytosol of the parasite cells. The increased
intracellular Ca2+ concentration following these treatments was confirmed using
live cell Ca2+ imaging with confocal laser scanning microscopy. Based on our
findings, we suggest a Ca2+ signalling pathway in the egress of B.
bovis merozoites. |
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Keywords: | Babesia bovis calcium ionophore calcium signalling egress |
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