Abstract
Small mammals are important hosts and/or reservoirs of Trypanosoma spp. This study aimed to verify the prevalence of Trypanosoma spp. in non-volant small mammals from the Brazilian Cerrado and to test the effects of T. lainsoni on the neutrophil/lymphocyte ratio (N/L) and body condition in rodent and marsupial populations. For this, we collected blood samples of 293 individuals captured in five forest fragments between 2019 and 2020. Blood was used to prepare the blood smears and packed on filter paper for DNA extraction. Generalized linear models were performed to test the effects of T. lainsoni on host health. The DNA was submitted to nested PCR targeting the Trypanosoma spp. 18S rRNA gene. From blood smears analyzed by microscopy, we obtained a positivity rate of 7.2% for Trypanosoma spp. About 31.1% of Gracilinanus agilis, Didelphis albiventris, and Rhipidomys macrurus samples were positive in nested PCR. From the obtained sequences, 83.3% were genetically identical to T. lainsoni and about 11% to T. cruzi TcI. In addition, we reported the infection of T. lainsoni in Hylaeamys megacephalus. We suggest that T. lainsoni does not influence the body condition and N/L ratio for either G. agilis or R. macrurus. Overall, our results expand the host list of T. lainsoni and demonstrate the infection of small mammals by T. cruzi TcI in peri-urban areas.
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Acknowledgements
The authors are grateful to Prof. PhD. Alexandre Reis Percequillo (University of São Paulo) for the identification of rodents.
Funding
This research was financially supported by Programa de Pesquisas Ecológicas de Longa Duração do Triângulo Mineiro e Sudeste de Goiás (PELD-TMSG) of Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq 441225/2016-0 and 441142/2020-6). M. M. O. received a scholarship from CNPq (142532/2018-5).
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All the authors contributed to the study’s conception and design. Material preparation, data collection, and analysis were performed by M. M. O., C. P. R. F., C. G. H., K. R. O., I. A. C. A., P. V. A. R., and N. O. L. The first draft of the manuscript was written by M. M. O., and all the authors commented on previous versions of the manuscript. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.
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The procedures described here were approved by the Ethics Committee on the Use of Animals of Federal University of Uberlândia (CEUA/UFU, 41/2019). The license for capturing the small mammals was issued by the Biodiversity Authorization and Information System (SISBIO, 68066-1).
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de Oliveira, M.M., Ferrando, C.P.R., Gómez-Hernández, C. et al. Prevalence of Trypanosoma lainsoni and its effects of parasitism on the health of non-volant small mammals from the Brazilian Cerrado. Parasitol Res 122, 1509–1518 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07851-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-023-07851-1