Differences between chimpanzee and baboon gastrointestinal parasite communities.

Cross-species infection among humans, chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes) and baboons (Papio spp.) is potentially a significant public health issue in Africa, and of concern in the conservation of P. troglodytes. However, to date, no statistical comparisons have been made between the prevalence, richness and composition of parasite communities in sympatric populations of baboons and P. troglodytes. We compared parasite communities in sympatric P. troglodytes and Papio papio living in a wilderness site, in the Republic of Senegal, West Africa. We asked whether, in the absence of humans, there are significant differences between these hosts in their interactions with gastrointestinal parasites. We tested whether host, location, or time of collection accounted for variation in prevalence, richness and community composition, and compared prevalence across six studies. We concluded that, despite being closely related, there are significant differences between these two hosts with respect to their parasite communities. At our study site, prevalence of Balantidium, Trichuris and Watsonius was higher in P. papio. Papio papio harboured more parasites per host, and we found evidence of a positive association between Trichuris and Balantidium in P. troglodytes but not P. papio.

Trypanosomatid prevalence and host habitat choice in woodland Drosophila.

Although trypanosomatids (Trypanosomatidae: Kinetoplastida) are common inhabitants of dipteran guts, prevalence in natural fly populations has not been studied. We investigated factors associated with trypanosomatid prevalence in eight species of woodland Drosophila (Drosophilidae: Diptera) collected from five sites in southwest Ohio. We collected infected flies from every site, over both years of our study, and from every Drosophila species. Prevalence differed with host species, but not between sites or with host sex. Prevalence was highest in the most abundant species, members of the subgenus Sophophora, species using decaying fruit as breeding sites, and those able to use more than one type of substrate for oviposition.

Variable effects of crowding on Drosophila hosts of male-lethal and non-male-lethal spiroplasmas in laboratory populations.

Male-lethal, maternally inherited spiroplasmas occur in four species of Drosophila, and persist in natural populations despite imperfect vertical transmission rates. In the field, larval crowding is thought to be sporadic, but occasionally intense. To determine whether crowding affects host persistence, I compared the population dynamics of infected females (hosts) under crowded conditions to those expected from data collected on uncrowded females. I estimated host fitness components and maternal transmission rates for individual females under uncrowded conditions in both the artificial host D. pseudoobscura (this paper) and the native host D. willistoni (previously reported). Spiroplasma infection had no effect on lifetime production of daughters in D. pseudoobscura; however, as with some D. willistoni lines, hosts may produce more of their daughters earlier in life than nonhosts. Because individual contributions to relative rates of increase calculated from these fitness data were similar for hosts and nonhosts, I expected hosts to persist in laboratory populations. Instead, three patterns were observed: rapid extinction of D. willistoni females infected with male-lethal spiroplasmas, slow decline or persistence of hosts (depending on initial frequency) in both D. pseudoobscura infected with male-lethal spiroplasmas, and D. willistoni infected with non-male-lethal spiroplasmas. Population dynamics, then, depend on host species and bacterial isolate. Fitness estimates change with host line in uncrowded D. willistoni, but host genetic background did not affect population dynamics. These and previously published results show that the interaction phenotype changes with host and parasite isolate, and that host fitness can be affected by crowding. Crowding in natural populations may therefore decrease host fitness but, in expanding populations, early reproduction in hosts may be to their advantage. Possible effects of seasonal fluctuations in population density on the fitness of infected Drosophila are discussed.

Relative reactivity of DTPA, immunoreactive antibody-DTPA conjugates, and nonimmunoreactive antibody-DTPA conjugates toward indium-111.

Anti-human serum albumin antibody (Ab) was reacted with cyclic DTPA dianhydride (cDTPAA) at various cDTPAA/Ab molar ratios between 1 and 40. Using a carrier In titration method for DTPA and DTPA-antibody conjugate (Ab-DTPA), we determined that the above reactions produced between 0.1 and 11 DTPA molecules per either immunoreactive antibody (sAb) or nonimmunoreactive antibody (nAb). The percentage of sAb remaining after the above reactions was between 88 and 62%. The reaction of no-carrier-added 111In with the reaction mixture from cDTPAA/Ab molar ratios of 1 to 40 gave radiochemical yields less than or equal to 25% for the respective Ab-DTPA. The rest of the 111In activity was associated with free DTPA. Our results indicate that Ab-DTPA containing greater than 1 DTPA molecule per Ab is more reactive than that containing less than 1 DTPA but is about as reactive as free DTPA. This allows us to label in the presence of free DTPA and consequently prevent colloid formation. The percentage of 111In activity incorporated into sAb-DTPA from the reactions at these molar ratios was similar to that found from the uv analysis. This indicates that the reactivity of sAb-DTPA and nAB-DTPA from the same conjugation reaction is similar. As a result, we were able to conjugate about one DTPA molecule to the Ab without causing deactivation of the Ab and label it with 111In in the presence of excess DTPA. We obtained a specific activity of 6 muCi 111In per microgram of Ab using research grade 111In without further purification.

Labeling monoclonal antibodies and F(ab')2 fragments with (111In) indium using cyclic DTPA anhydride and their in vivo behavior in mice bearing human tumor xenografts.

Monoclonal antibodies (MAb) and their F(ab')2 fragments to human colorectal carcinoma (CRC) and human melanoma-associated antigens were conjugated to diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) via an acylation reaction using cyclic DTPA dianhydride. Relative immunoreactivity of the F(ab')2 fragments was as high as 70% when an average of only 0.7 DTPA molecules was conjugated per fragment, decreasing rapidly to less than 5% when 9.0 DTPA molecules were conjugated. The 111In-labeled whole MAb in mice bearing human tumor xenografts showed higher concentrations in tumor, liver, kidney, and spleen 7 days after injection of MAb when compared with the same MAb labeled with 131I. F(ab')2 labeled with 111In showed a marked persistence in the tumor-bearing mice with higher concentrations in all organs except blood, when compared with 131I-labeled F(ab')2. Radioactivity was particularly high in the kidneys. Although images of human tumor xenografts were easily visualized using 131I-labeled F(ab')2 3 days after injection, it was difficult to visualize tumor grafts with 111In-labeled F(ab')2 due to persistently high renal, liver, and background activity. Increased catabolism of the 131I-labeled MAb may be the cause of the difference; but antibodies with high immunological activity are a necessity for in vivo imaging studies before firm conclusions can be drawn.

Factors influencing DTPA conjugation with antibodies by cyclic DTPA anhydride.

Diethylenetriaminepentaacetic acid (DTPA) was conjugated with a practical concentration (300 micrograms/ml) of antibody to human albumin (Ab) and 1083 17-1A monoclonal colorectal antibody (MAb-17-1A) via an acylation reaction using cyclic DTPA anhydride (cDTPAA). The conjugation reaction was favored as pH increased. Bicarbonate buffer at pH 8.2 was chosen for studies of the effect of the cDTPAA-to-antibody ratio on DTPA conjugation with antibody because of its good buffer capacity at that pH. The reaction of cDTPAA with Ab at molar ratios of 2000, 1000, 500, and 100 in the bicarbonate buffer gave rise to 11, 9, 8, and 2 indium atoms incorporated per Ab with 47%, 55%, 59%, and 77% retention of the binding activity. For the conjugation reaction of MAb-17-1A, 29, 28, 31, 11, 4, and 1 indium atoms were incorporated, with the retention of less than 5%, less than 5%, less than 5%, 12%, 60%, and 93% of binding activity when the molar ratio was 5000, 2000, 1000, 500, 100, and 50.