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1. Introduction
Cysticercosis caused by the metacestode of the taeniid cestodes is a global infection, which has veterinary, medical, and economic importance. The adult stages of the parasites infect canids, while the metacestodes develop in several species of domestic and wild intermediate mammalian hosts where they develop as fluid-filled larvae in tissues [1–3].
Cysticercus tenuicollis is the metacestode of canine tapeworm Taenia hydatigena, which has been reported in domestic and wild ruminants, pigs, squirrels, and monkeys [1, 2]. Metacestodes are found attached to the omentum, mesentery, and occasionally on the liver surface; however, unusual locations of C. tenuicollis have been described as lungs, kidneys, brain, ovaries, uterine tubes, uterus, cervix, and vagina. An aberrant location of C. tenuicollis vesicle inside the chorioallantoic membrane of a goat foetus was reported [4]. Pathogenicity of adult parasites is not high for definitive hosts. However, large numbers of developing cysticerci migrate contemporaneously in the liver of intermediate hosts, producing “hepatitis cysticercosa”, a condition whose gross pathology resembles acute fasciolosis and which is often fatal [1, 2, 5].
Diagnosis of taeniosis and cysticercosis is based on the morphologic and molecular characteristics of the parasites [1, 2, 6, 7]. Number and length of the large and small hooks, number and layers of testes, number of uterine branches, and structure of cirrus sac are important characteristics for morphologic identification [1–3]. Molecular approaches include restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, PCR-linked RFLP analysis (PCR-RFLP), and direct comparison of PCR-amplified DNA sequences [6–8]. Today, sequence data of mitochondrial NADH dehydrogenase subunit 1 (mt-ND1) and cytochrome c oxidase subunit 1 (mt-CO1) genes of genus Taenia (T. taeniaeformis, T. hydatigena, T. pisiformis, T. ovis, T. multiceps, T. serialis, T. saginata, T. solium, and the Asian Taenia) is available on GenBank [8, 9].
The aim of this study was to provide molecular detection and characterization of the goat isolate of T. hydatigena by PCR amplification of small subunit ribosomal RNA (rrnS) and partial sequencing of mt-CO1 gene in Ankara province of Turkey.
2. Materials and Methods
Liver of a one-month-old dead goat was sent to our laboratory for parasitological examination. For this, liver was cut into one cm3 pieces and left into warm water for 30 minutes. Then, liver pieces were removed by...