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Evaluation of in vitro culture systems for the maintenance of microfilariae and infective larvae of Loa loa

Overview of attention for article published in Parasites & Vectors, May 2018
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  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age (53rd percentile)
  • Above-average Attention Score compared to outputs of the same age and source (54th percentile)

Mentioned by

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1 Wikipedia page

Citations

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22 Dimensions

Readers on

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24 Mendeley
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Title
Evaluation of in vitro culture systems for the maintenance of microfilariae and infective larvae of Loa loa
Published in
Parasites & Vectors, May 2018
DOI 10.1186/s13071-018-2852-2
Pubmed ID
Authors

Denis Zofou, Fanny Fri Fombad, Narcisse V. T. Gandjui, Abdel Jelil Njouendou, Arnaud Jonas Kengne-Ouafo, Patrick W. Chounna Ndongmo, Fabrice R. Datchoua-Poutcheu, Peter A. Enyong, Dizzle Tayong Bita, Mark J. Taylor, Joseph D. Turner, Samuel Wanji

Abstract

Suitable and scalable in vitro culture conditions for parasite maintenance are needed to foster drug research for loiasis, one of the neglected tropical diseases which has attracted only limited attention over recent years, despite having important public health impacts. The present work aims to develop adequate in vitro culture systems for drug screening against both microfilariae (mf) and infective third-stage larvae (L3) of Loa loa. In vitro culture conditions were evaluated by varying three basic culture media: Roswell Park Memorial Institute (RPMI-1640), Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) and Iscove's modified Dulbecco's medium (IMDM); four sera/proteins: newborn calf serum (NCS), foetal bovine serum (FBS), bovine serum albumin (BSA) and the lipid-enriched BSA (AlbuMax® II, ALB); and co-culture with the Monkey Kidney Epithelial Cell line (LLC-MK2) as a feeder layer. The various culture systems were tested on both mf and L3, using survival (% motile), motility (T90 = mean duration (days) at which at least 90% of parasites were fully active) and moulting rates of L3 as the major criteria. The general linear model regression analysis was performed to assess the contribution of each variable on the viability of Loa loa L3 and microfilarie. All statistical tests were performed at 95% confidence interval. Of the three different media tested, DMEM and IMDM were the most suitable sustaining the maintenance of both L. loa L3 and mf. IMDM alone could sustain L3 for more than 5 days (T90 = 6.5 ± 1.1 day). Serum supplements and LLC-MK2 co-cultures significantly improved the survival of parasites in DMEM and IMDM. In co-cultures with LLC-MK2 cells, L. loa mf were maintained in each of the three basic media (T90 of 16.4-19.5 days) without any serum supplement. The most effective culture systems promoting significant moulting rate of L3 into L4 (at least 25%) with substantial maintenance time were: DMEM + BSA, DMEM + NCS, DMEM-AlbuMax®II, DMEM + FBS all in co-culture with LLC-MK2, and IMDM + BSA (1.5%), DMEM + FBS (10%) and DMEM + NCS (5%) without feeder cells. DMEM + 1% BSA in co-culture scored the highest moulting rate of 57 of 81 (70.37%). The factors that promoted L. loa mf viability included feeder cells (β = 0.490), both IMDM (β = 0.256) and DMEM (β = 0.198) media and the protein supplements NCS (β = 0.052) and FBS (β = 0.022); while for L. loa L3, in addition to feeder cells (β = 0.259) and both IMDM (β = 0.401) and DMEM (β = 0.385) media, the protein supplements BSA (β = 0.029) were found important in maintaining the worm motility. The findings from this work display a range of culture requirements for the maintenance of Loa loa stages, which are suitable for developing an effective platform for drug screening.

Mendeley readers

Mendeley readers

The data shown below were compiled from readership statistics for 24 Mendeley readers of this research output. Click here to see the associated Mendeley record.

Geographical breakdown

Country Count As %
Unknown 24 100%

Demographic breakdown

Readers by professional status Count As %
Student > Ph. D. Student 5 21%
Student > Bachelor 2 8%
Student > Master 2 8%
Researcher 2 8%
Student > Postgraduate 2 8%
Other 1 4%
Unknown 10 42%
Readers by discipline Count As %
Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology 5 21%
Agricultural and Biological Sciences 4 17%
Medicine and Dentistry 2 8%
Nursing and Health Professions 1 4%
Immunology and Microbiology 1 4%
Other 1 4%
Unknown 10 42%
Attention Score in Context

Attention Score in Context

This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 3. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 04 October 2018.
All research outputs
#7,559,215
of 23,058,939 outputs
Outputs from Parasites & Vectors
#1,880
of 5,516 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#130,669
of 326,342 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Parasites & Vectors
#69
of 166 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 23,058,939 research outputs across all sources so far. This one is in the 44th percentile – i.e., 44% of other outputs scored the same or lower than it.
So far Altmetric has tracked 5,516 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 5.7. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 62% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 326,342 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 53% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 166 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has gotten more attention than average, scoring higher than 54% of its contemporaries.