Helminth infections and gut microbiota - a feline perspective.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Investigations of the relationships between the gut microbiota and gastrointestinal parasitic nematodes are attracting growing interest by the scientific community, driven by the need to better understand the contribution of parasite-associated changes in the composition of the gut flora to both host malnutrition and immune modulation. These studies have however been carried out mainly in humans and experimental animals, while knowledge of the make-up of the gut commensal flora in presence or absence of infection by parasitic nematodes in domestic animals is limited. In this study, we investigate the qualitative and quantitative impact that infections by a widespread parasite of cats (i.e. Toxocara cati) exert on the gut microbiota of feline hosts.

Methods

The fae

SUBMITTER: Duarte AM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5135779 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature