Table 3.
Lesion quantification and PCR detection and quantification of N. caninum in placenta and foetal liver and brain
| Group | Foetal death (dpi) | Placenta | Liver | Brain | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Histology α | PCR β | Histology α | PCR β | Histology α | PCR β | ||||||||
| No. foci/cm 2 | ASF (mm 2 ) | %LES | No. foci/cm 2 | ASF (mm 2 ) | %LES | No. foci/cm 2 | ASF (mm 2 ) | %LES | |||||
| G1 (day 40) | 19-21 | 8.2d | 0.053d | 0.25%d | 6/6 (7888c) | 82.3c | 0.041 | 3.37%c | 11/11a (6318c) | 1.68 | 0.038 | 0.05% | 11/11 (1697c) |
| G2 (day 90) | 34-48 | 73.0c | 0.113d | 9.07%c | 7/7 (308.5d) | 0.2d | 0.044 | 0.02%d | 5/12b (0.01d) | 3.14 | 0.047 | 0.18% | 10/12 (0.25d) |
| G3 (day 120) | Born* | 18.7d | 0.304c | 5.74%c | 7/7 (190.8d) | 4.2d | 0.047 | 0.16%d | 4/9b (0.01d) | 3.50 | 0.063 | 0.25% | 6/9 (0.01d) |
*All lambs from this group gave birth to viable lambs between days 142 and 155 of gestation.
αAverage values of histological scoring for each group.
βFractions represent the number of positive animals/total number of animals checked by nested-ITS1 PCR, and figures within brackets represent the median values of parasite burden (tachyzoites/mg tissue).
a,bFractions determined for positive animals followed by unlike superscripts differ significantly by Fisher’s exact test.
c,dValues followed by unlike superscripts differ significantly by Dunn’s test for pairwise comparisons.
dpi: days post infection when abortion occurred; ASF: Average size of focus; %LES: Percentage of section affected by lesions.