In vitro propagation of Theileria annulata infected schizonts in different media supplemented with heterologous sera.

The researchers tested different serum-supplemented mediums for growing a parasite (Theileria annulata) in bovine cells in a lab, discovering that goat and sheep sera can be reliably used as substitutes to fetal bovine serum, which assists in reducing costs.

Research Objectives

• The main objective of this research was to evaluate the efficacy of different mediums supplemented with heterologous sera (from horses, donkeys, sheep and goats) for the in vitro (laboratory) growth of Theileria annulata infected bovine cells.
• Additional aim was to find a cost-effective solution for cultivating these parasites, by substituting fetal bovine serum with other types of sera.

Methodology

• The experiment was conducted using the RPMI-1640 medium, obtained from different sources such as Gibco USA, Centron and Hi-media.
• The researchers compared the growth rates of the parasite-infected cells in RPMI-1640 medium supplemented with the four different sera and fetal bovine serum (also from Gibco).

Key Findings

• It was found that the RPMI-1640 medium sourced from Gibco proved to be the most effective for the in vitro cultivation of the T. annulata infected bovine cells.
• Moreover, the researchers discovered that both goat and sheep sera could be reliably and safely used as substitutes for the typically utilized fetal bovine serum in the growth medium.
• Interestingly, horse and donkey sera also yielded comparable growth of T. annulata-infected cells in vitro.

Implications

• The successful employment of these heterologous sera significantly helped reduce the cost of in vitro cultivation of T. annulata schizonts.
• This breakthrough holds considerable potential for the mass production of a lessened cell culture vaccine used for controlling bovine tropical theileriosis, a significant disease affecting cattle in tropical regions.