Comparison of histologic methods for the detection of Desmozoon lepeophtherii spores in the gills of Atlantic salmon

• Main Authors: Herrero, Ana, Padrós, Francesc, Pflaum, Sara, Matthews, Chris, Del-Pozo, Jorge, Rodger, Hamish D., Dagleish, Mark P., Thompson, Kim D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: SAGE Journals 2019
• Subjects: 111599 Pharmacology and Pharmaceutical Sciences not elsewhere classified; FOS Clinical medicine; 70706 Veterinary Medicine; FOS Veterinary sciences; Atlantic salmon; Salmo salar
• Online Access: https://dx.doi.org/10.25384/sage.c.4745525; https://sage.figshare.com/collections/Comparison_of_histologic_methods_for_the_detection_of_i_Desmozoon_lepeophtherii_i_spores_in_the_gills_of_Atlantic_salmon/4745525

Desmozoon lepeophtherii is a microsporidian associated with gill disease in farmed Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar ). Detection of the parasite in histologic tissue sections is challenging using common histochemical stains given that the small, widely distributed parasite spores typically occur individually or in small clusters. We compared the ability of 4 histologic methods to detect D. lepeophtherii spores in serial sections of Atlantic salmon gill tissue: hematoxylin and eosin (H&E), Gram–Twort (GT), calcofluor white (CW), and immunohistochemistry (IHC). Using CW as a benchmark to calculate a relative ratio, IHC consistently detected more spores than CW (median: 1.3), followed by GT (median: 0.2) and H&E (median: 0.1). IHC detected significantly more spores than GT ( p p p