Methods to assess the effect of meat processing on viability of Toxoplasma gondii: towards replacement of mouse bioassay by in vitro testing.

Methods to assess the effect of meat processing on viability of Toxoplasma gondii: towards replacement of mouse bioassay by in vitro testing. Int J Parasitol. 2020 Apr 28;: Authors: Opsteegh M, Dam-Deisz C, de Boer P, DeCraeye S, Faré A, Hengeveld P, Luiten R, Schares G, van Solt-Smits C, Verhaegen B, Verkleij T, van der Giessen J, Wisselink HJ Abstract Consumption of meat containing viable tissue cysts is considered one of the main sources of human infection with Toxoplasma gondii. In contrast to fresh meat, raw meat products usually undergo processing, including salting and mixing with other additives such as sodium acetate and sodium lactate, which affects the viability of T. gondii. However, the experiments described in the literature are not always performed in line with the current processing methods applied in industry. It was our goal to study the effect of salting and additives according to the recipes used by industrial producers. Mouse or cat bioassay is the 'gold standard' to demonstrate the presence of viable T. gondii. However, it is costly, time consuming and for ethical reasons not preferred for large-scale studies.Therefore, we first aimed to develop an alternative for mouse bioassay that can be used to determine the effect of processing on the viability of T. gondii tissue cysts. The assays studied were (i) a cell culture method to determine the parasite's ability to multiply, and (ii) a propidium monoazide (PMA) d...
Source: International Journal for Parasitology - Category: Parasitology Authors: Tags: Int J Parasitol Source Type: research