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Development and Evaluation of Modified Cryopreservation for Long-Term Storage of Blastocystis Subtypes 1–3 and 6

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Abstract

Background

Blastocystis is a protozoan parasite living in the intestine of humans and a wide range of animals. Although Blastocystis grows in several cultivation media, axenification and serial cultivations for long time are the main challenges of the researchers. Therefore, the long-term storage of subtypes/strains of Blastocystis using cryopreservation provides a suitable source of this parasite for the physiological, biochemical, and biological studies.

Methods

In the current study, seven xenic isolates including two separated isolates from ST1-3 and one isolate from ST6 were cryopreserved using a standard method with minor modifications. After 3 months, all isolates were recovered and cultivated in DMEM medium.

Results

The findings of the method showed all seven isolates were successfully recovered in DMEM medium. In addition, all isolates remained viable after several sub-cultures.

Conclusions

It seems that cryopreservation is a simple method that can provide a suitable condition for the long-term storage of Blastocystis.

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Fig. 1
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Data availability

The data associated with this manuscript are included in the article.

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Acknowledgements

This article has been extracted from the thesis written by Mr. Seyed Ahmad Karamati in School of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Science (Registration No: M341). The project was also financially supported by Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences (grant No. 887). The authors would like to thank all the staffs of the Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases Research Center for their collaboration.

Funding

This study was financially supported by the Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran (grant no. 887).

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Author notes

  1. Seyed Ahmad Karamatia and Hamed Mirjalali equally contributed.

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, Faculty of Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Seyed Ahmad Karamati, Maryam Niyyati, Ali Haghighi & Seyyed Javad Seyyed Tabaei

  2. Basic and Molecular Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Hamid Asadzadeh Aghdaei

  3. Foodborne and Waterborne Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Abbas Yadegar & Hamed Mirjalali

  4. Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Reza Zali

Authors
  1. Seyed Ahmad Karamati
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  2. Hamid Asadzadeh Aghdaei
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  7. Hamed Mirjalali
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  8. Mohammad Reza Zali
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Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: HM SAK MN. Performed the experiments: HM SAK. Analyzed the data: HM SAK. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools/positive samples: MN AH HAA MRZ. Wrote the paper: HM SAK SJST. All authors read and approved the final version of the manuscript.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Maryam Niyyati or Hamed Mirjalali.

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The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

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This study did not use any human participants, human data or human tissue and, therefore, did not require ethical approval.

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This study did not use any individual person’s data in any form and, therefore, did not require consent for publication.

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Karamati, S.A., Asadzadeh Aghdaei, H., Niyyati, M. et al. Development and Evaluation of Modified Cryopreservation for Long-Term Storage of Blastocystis Subtypes 1–3 and 6. Acta Parasit. 65, 535–540 (2020). https://doi.org/10.2478/s11686-019-00157-2

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