• Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences
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• v.5 no.3
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• pp.145-149
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• 2002

The effects of pH, temperature and various inhibitors on the proteolytic activity of the cell lysate of Uronema marium were investigated using colorimetric and substrate gel electro­phoretic methods. The cell lysate of U. marinum showed proteolytic activity over a wide range of pH, and pH optima ranged from pH 5 to 7. The proteolytic activity was increased according to a rise of temperature but decreased at $40^{\circ}$. The proteolytic activity of the parasite lysate was significantly inhibited by protease inhibitors including trans-epoxysuccinyl -L-leucylamido-(4-guanidino) butane (E-64), pepstatin A, phenyl-methanesulfonyl fluoride(PMSF), and ethylenediamine-tetraacetic acid (EDTA). Preincubation of the lysate with E-64 showed the maximum inhibition of the caseionolytic activity. Four protease bands (152, 97, 67 and 40 kDa) were detected by gelatin SDS-PAGE. Significant inhibition of caseinolytic activity and complete abolition of a 152 kDa band in gelatin SDS-PAGE by EDTA indicated that the cell lysate of U. marinum had a metalloprotease Another three proteolytic bands were inhibited by E64, a cysteine protease inhibitor. Preincubation of the cell lysate with pepstatin or PMSF had no effects on the protease bands.

• Parasites, Hosts and Diseases
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.341-344
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• 2015

Toxoplasma gondii is an opportunistic protozoan parasite that can infect almost all warm-blooded animals including humans with a worldwide distribution. Micronemes play an important role in invasion process of T. gondii, associated with the attachment, motility, and host cell recognition. In this research, sequence diversity in microneme protein 6 (MIC6) gene among 16 T. gondii isolates from different hosts and geographical regions and 1 reference strain was examined. The results showed that the sequence of all the examined T. gondii strains was 1,050 bp in length, and their A + T content was between 45.7% and 46.1%. Sequence analysis presented 33 nucleotide mutation positions (0-1.1%), resulting in 23 amino acid substitutions (0-2.3%) aligned with T. gondii RH strain. Moreover, T. gondii strains representing the 3 classical genotypes (Type I, II, and III) were separated into different clusters based on the locus of MIC6 using phylogenetic analyses by Bayesian inference (BI), maximum parsimony (MP), and maximum likelihood (ML), but T. gondii strains belonging to ToxoDB #9 were separated into different clusters. Our results suggested that MIC6 gene is not a suitable marker for T. gondii population genetic studies.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.32 no.2
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• pp.212-214
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• 2015

Encephalitoozoon cuniculi is an obligate intracellular microsporidian parasite commonly found in rabbits, causing encephalitozoonosis. This organism can also infect a wide range of hosts including humans, which is known to cause opportunistic infections in immunocompromised individuals. In this case, four rabbits presented with head tilt and nystagmus were diagnosed for E. cuniculi infection using ELISA. The rabbits were treated with fenbendazole for 4 weeks and therapeutic success was evaluated by assessing the neurological symptoms. Three out of 4 rabbits showed improved health condition 3 to 5 days after treatment, but one rabbit showed persistent anorexia and head tilt after treatment and then died after 10 days. This report is the first to investigate the therapeutic response of fenbendazole for rabbit encephalitozoonosis in Korea, and suggests that pet rabbits may serve as potential E. cuniculi reservoirs for both pet animals and humans.