PREDATORY CAPACITY OF THE POCHONIA CHLAMYDOSPORIA AFTER PASSAGE THROUGH THE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT OF DOGS
Autor(es): Juliana Milani Araujo, Jackson Victor de Araújo, Fabio Ribeiro Braga, Lorendane Millena de Carvalho, Dayane Milani Araujo, João Victor Facchini Rodrigues, Samuel Galvão de Freitas, Emy Hiura, Leandro Abreu da Fonseca, Mariele Trevizam Santos, Jeanne Saraiva da Paz, Laércio dos Anjos Benjamin, Filippe E. F. Soares
PREDATORY CAPACITY OF THE POCHONIA CHLAMYDOSPORIA AFTER PASSAGE THROUGH THE GASTROINTESTINAL TRACT OF DOGS
» Área de pesquisa: HELMINTOLOGIA
» Instituição: Universidade Federal de Viçosa
» Agência de fomento e patrocinadores: CNPq
Moist and shaded soils provide a favorable environment for the prevalence and development of embryonic eggs of helminth, which, under favorable conditions, remain infective in the soil for several months. There are a number of measures to control helminthosis, but the main strategy is to interrupt the parasite’s life cycle. Studies on the destruction of soil-transmitted helminthes (STH) eggs using natural processes are still in early stages, but represent a viable alternative, if used with other preventive measures. The predatory capacity of the nematophagous fungus Pochonia chlamydosporia (isolate VC4) after passage through the gastrointestinal tract of dogs was assessed in vivo against Toxocara canis eggs. Twelve dogs previously wormed were divided into two groups of six animals and caged. The treatments consisted of a fungus-treated group (VC4) and a control group without fungus. Each dog of the fungus-treated group received a single 4g dose of mycelial mass of P. chlamydosporia (VC4). Fecal samples from animals of both groups (treated and control) were collected at five different times (6, 12, 24, 36, and 48 hours) after fungal administration, and placed in Petri dishes. Each Petri dish of both groups for each studied time interval received approximately 1000 T. canis eggs. After thirty days of interaction, approximately one hundred eggs were removed from each Petri dish of each studied time interval and evaluated by light microscopy (LM) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). Microscopy examination of plates inoculated with the fungus showed that the isolate VC4 was able to destroy the T. canis eggs with destruction percentages of 28.6% (6 hours), 29.1% (12 hours), 32.0% (24 hours), 31.7% (36 hours), and 37.2% (48 hours). These results suggest that P. chlamydosporia can be used as a tool for the biological control of T. canis eggs in feces of contaminated dogs.
