Lucia Tri Suwanti

Morphologic and morphometric characteristics of ascaroid worm, Ophidascaris piscatori in Xenochrophis piscator snake in Sidoarjo, Indonesia

Aim: The study was conducted to describe the morphology and morphometry of nematode worm in the stomach of Xenochrophis piscator snake macroscopically and microscopically using light and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Materials and Methods: The sample was 40 nematode worms that have been collected from 60 snakes which slaughtered at snake slaughterhouses in Sidoarjo, Indonesia. The worms (10 male and 10 female) were stained with carmine, and the others were sent to Indonesian Science Institute for ultrastructure observation by SEM. Some of the female worms were immersed in physiological NaCl and incubated to collect the worm eggs. Results: Nematode worm in this study had three lips with almost the same size and it had papillae, so it was included in ascaridoid. The mouth of ascaridoids has three lips, the dorsal bearing two large outer papillae and the each lateroventral with one papilla. The body length and width of the male worm were 70-105 mm and 0.92-1.32, respectively, with head diameter of 0.22-0.28 mm. Dorsal and ventrolateral lips almost have the same size that was 0.10-0.12×0.11-0.13 mm. The length of interlabia was 0.06-0.08 mm, esophagus was 3.21-4 mm, tail was 0.17-0.23 mm, and spicule was 2.12-3.36 mm. The body length and width of the female worm were 85-130 mm and 1.28-1.71 mm, respectively. The head diameter was 0.29-0.38 mm. Dorsal and ventrolateral lips almost have the same size that was 0.13-0.16×0.15-0.19 mm. The interlabial length was 0.08-0.10 mm, esophagus was 3.04-4.67 mm, and tail was 0.22-0.31 mm. The distance of the vulva from the anterior edge was 56-88 mm with an average of 67.35 mm. The eggs have conspicuously pitted with length 0.08-0.09 mm and width 0.07-0.08 mm. Conclusion: Based on the characteristics of morphology and morphometry, the ascaroid worms found on X. piscator snake from Sidoarjo, Indonesia, were O. piscatori.

Humoral and cellular immune response induced by antigenic protein of Sarcoptes scabiei var. caprae

Aim: Scabies is one of the most important diseases in goats and caused by a complex hypersensitivity process that involves both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses. This phenomenon shows that the variety of Sarcoptes scabiei has different characteristics of specific antigenic protein or different immune-dominant. This research aims to detect the humoral and cellular immune response of rabbits which were immunized with the protein of S. scabiei var. caprae. Materials and Methods: This research was done as follows, identification and collection of Sarcoptes scabiei var caprae from goat infected with scabies, separation of protein antigen from S. scabiei mites with ultrasonic sonicator, measurement of protein content with spectrophotometry, rabbit injection with 500 μg dose of antigen protein which was repeated 5 times (5x booster) every 2 weeks. Measurement of IgG titer using indirect ELISA, whereas to detect the expression of cellular immune response (TLR-9, CD4, and CD8) using Direct Immunofluorescence assay. Results: Based on the statistical analysis, it showed that there was a significant enhancement (p<0.05) for optical density value or antibody titer and cellular immune response was shown by TLR-9, CD4, and CD8 expression in rabbit T lymphocytes which appear yellow to green fluorescent color using fluorescence microscope. The amount of fluorescence T lymphocytes showed a significant difference (p<0.05) between the control and various boosters. Conclusion: Antigenic protein of S. scabiei var. caprae contains ligands, which are involved in the pathogen-associated molecular pattern that has an ability to induce humoral and cellular immune response in rabbit. Specifically, that TLR-9 is not only involved in innate immunity but also in adaptive immunity and can be used as alternative adjuvant development research.