Assessment of Blood Collection from the Lateral Saphenous Vein for Microfilaria Counts in Mongolian Gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) Infected with Brugia pahangi.

The NIH guidelines for survival bleeding of mice and rats note that using the retroorbital plexus has a greater potential for complications than do other methods of blood collection and that this procedure should be performed on anesthetized animals. Lateral saphenous vein puncture has a low potential for complications and can be performed without anesthesia. Mongolian gerbils (Meriones unguiculatus) are the preferred rodent model for filarial parasite research.

Repurposing auranofin as a lead candidate for treatment of lymphatic filariasis and onchocerciasis.

Two major human diseases caused by filariid nematodes are onchocerciasis, or river blindness, and lymphatic filariasis, which can lead to elephantiasis. The drugs ivermectin, diethylcarbamazine (DEC), and albendazole are used in control programs for these diseases, but are mainly effective against the microfilarial stage and have minimal or no effect on adult worms. Adult Onchocerca volvulus and Brugia malayi worms (macrofilariae) can live for up to 15 years, reproducing and allowing the infection to persist in a population.

Effects of doxycycline on early infections of Dirofilaria immitis in dogs.

The antifilarial effects of tetracycline drugs were first demonstrated when they were found to be highly effective against L(3) and L(4) of Brugia pahangi and Litomosoides sigmodontis in rodent models. Tetracyclines are also now known to have activity against microfilariae and adult Dirofilaria immitis, but assessment of their activity against larval and juvenile heartworms has not been reported previously. This study assessed the effects of doxycycline administered orally at 10mg/kg twice daily for 30-day periods at selected times during the early part of the life cycle of D.

Structural and ultrastructural changes in the lungs of cats Felis catus (Linnaeus, 1758) experimentally infected with D. immitis (Leidy, 1856).

Clinical signs are seldom observed in feline heartworm disease, and the pathophysiological changes in the lungs of infected animals remain undefined. The goal of this study was to evaluate the structural and ultrastructural changes in the lungs of cats experimentally infected with Dirofilaria immitis. Six healthy cats were each infected with two adult heartworms by intravenous transplantation (Receptor Group, RG).

Evaluation of lung pathology in Dirofilaria immitis-experimentally infected dogs treated with doxycycline or a combination of doxycycline and ivermectin before administration of melarsomine dihydrochloride.

Adulticide therapy in heartworm (Dirofilaria immitis)-infected dogs can lead to thromboembolism, which can seriously compromise post-treatment health status. Lung pathology following adulticide therapy was evaluated in three groups of experimentally infected dogs. Group 1 was treated with doxycycline at 20 mg/kg per os once daily for 30 days post infection followed by an intramuscular injection of melarsomine dihydrochloride (2.