Evaluación de la aplicación de dos ensayos moleculares (PCR y LAMP) para la identificación de material genético de Neospora caninum en sangre de Canis lupus familiaris (perro)

Abstract

Neospora caninum is an Apicomplexa parasite, the etiological agent of neosporosis, a disease considered of great importance in the productive and reproductive losses of bovines and neuromuscular damages in dogs, with a worldwide presence. This protozoan parasite is kept in the environment by a heteroxen cycle that involves as a definitive host the dog (Canis familiaris or Canis lupus familiaris) and other animals of the Canis genus such as Coyote (Canis latrans) or Dingo (Canis lupus dingo) and it has several intermediate hosts, the most important being cattle. The objective of this study was to compare two molecular techniques, PCR and LAMP for the identification of genetic material of N. caninum, in peripheral blood samples obtained from dogs, without distinction of sex, age or breed, from the livestock areas adjacent to the city of Cuenca that live with bovines and are exposed to the consumption of biological waste of these animals, this being the population most susceptible to develop damage to their health from this parasite and less chance of cure. For the above, blood samples were taken from 100 dogs to subsequently extract the total DNA from each of them and apply both molecular methods, the results obtained showed two positive samples to N. caninum in PCR and 3 positive in LAMP, in the statistical analysis applied with Chi-square and FFisher tests, it was found that there is no statistical difference between the results obtained when applying these molecular methods, that is, this study suggests that both tests are equally efficient to identify genetic material from N. caninum in the peripheral blood of dogs. Finally, both techniques are considered highly specific and sensitive, both analytical and diagnostic compared to the serological tests applicable for the diagnosis of this disease, however the LAMP assay is more feasible to be applied in limited resource conditions since it does not require expensive equipment for its realization.