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Diagnosis of Toxoplasma Gondii Infections by Molecular Detection

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Toxoplasmosis

Part of the book series: NATO ASI Series ((ASIH,volume 78))

Abstract

In this report the applicability of in situ hybridization (ISH) and the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) is described for the diagnosis of toxoplasmosis.

The presence of T. gondii cysts in the brain of experimentally infected mice was clearly demonstrated by ISH using digoxigenin labeled oligonucleotide probes directed against the B1 gene. With this technique, the parasite could be localized within the morphological structure of the infected tissue.

A novel PCR assay was developed with the small subunit ribosomal RNA (16S-like rRNA) as a target. The abundance of rRNA target sequences enabled a single parasite to be detected with this RNA based amplification system.

The usefulness of these molecular assays for the diagnosis of T. gondii infections will be further outlined in this report.

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© 1993 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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de Schoondermark-van Ven, E., Galama, J., Camps, W., Meuwissen, J., Melchers, W. (1993). Diagnosis of Toxoplasma Gondii Infections by Molecular Detection. In: Smith, J.E. (eds) Toxoplasmosis. NATO ASI Series, vol 78. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78559-7_21

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-78559-7_21

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-78561-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-78559-7

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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