Susceptibility of cell lines and primary cell cultures to Neospora caninum

Neospora caninum is a protozoan of wide distribution and great importance to the cattle industry, mainly due to its associated reproductive losses. Cultured cells are widely used for isolation and multiplication of the agent in vitro with several purposes. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the susceptibility of different cell cultures to infection by N. caninum. Among the cell cultures tested, four presented good susceptibility to the agent: cell lines VERO (yield of 21.2 taquizoites/cell) and MA-104 (17.1); primary bovine testicle (16.3) and lung cells (13.6). Primary bovine kidney (8.2 taquizoites/cell), MDBK (5.1) and RK-13 cell lines (0.4) presented moderate to low sensitivity. No viable taquizoites were detected in the culture of MDCK cells. These results demonstrate that MA-104 cells present adequate susceptibility to N. caninum compared to VERO cells, which have been largely used to multiply the parasite in vitro. Together with its easy manipulation, fast multiplication and relatively low nutritional requirements, these results indicate that MA-104 cells are adequate for multiplication of N. caninum in vitro.