Tammo von Knoblauch, Annette B Jensen, Christoph K W Mülling, Heike Aupperle-Lellbach, Elke Genersch
{"title":"Chalkbrood Disease Caused by <i>Ascosphaera apis</i> in Honey Bees (<i>Apis mellifera</i>)-Morphological and Histological Changes in Infected Larvae.","authors":"Tammo von Knoblauch, Annette B Jensen, Christoph K W Mülling, Heike Aupperle-Lellbach, Elke Genersch","doi":"10.3390/vetsci11090415","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><p>Chalkbrood is a mycological brood disease of the Western honey bee (<i>Apis mellifera</i>), caused by the fungus <i>Ascosphaera apis</i>. The aim of this study was the investigation of the pathology of artificially reared <i>Apis mellifera</i> larvae, experimentally infected with <i>A. apis</i> spores (1.0 × 10<sup>3</sup> spores/larva). Non-infected larvae served as control. Five living larvae and every dead larva were collected daily (day 1-7 p.i.). All larvae were macroscopically measured, photographed, formalin-fixed, and histologically processed (hematoxylin-eosin stain, Grocott silvering). Histological sections were digitized, and the size of the larvae was measured (mouth-after length, area) and statistically analyzed. Twenty-six larvae from the collected larvae (<i>n</i> = 64; 23 dead, 3 alive) showed histological signs of infection from 3 d p.i. onwards. The dead larvae showed macroscopically white/brown deposits, indistinct segmentation, and a lack of body elongation. Infected larvae were significantly smaller than the controls on days 3 p.i. (<i>p</i> < 0.05), 4 p.i. (<i>p</i> < 0.001), and 6 p.i. (<i>p</i> < 0.05). The early time of death, the low number of transitional stages, and the strong penetration of the larval carcass with fungal mycelium indicate a rapid and fulminant infection process, which is probably relevant for spreading the disease within the colony.</p>","PeriodicalId":23694,"journal":{"name":"Veterinary Sciences","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":2.0000,"publicationDate":"2024-09-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11436016/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Veterinary Sciences","FirstCategoryId":"97","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.3390/vetsci11090415","RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"农林科学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"VETERINARY SCIENCES","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Chalkbrood is a mycological brood disease of the Western honey bee (Apis mellifera), caused by the fungus Ascosphaera apis. The aim of this study was the investigation of the pathology of artificially reared Apis mellifera larvae, experimentally infected with A. apis spores (1.0 × 103 spores/larva). Non-infected larvae served as control. Five living larvae and every dead larva were collected daily (day 1-7 p.i.). All larvae were macroscopically measured, photographed, formalin-fixed, and histologically processed (hematoxylin-eosin stain, Grocott silvering). Histological sections were digitized, and the size of the larvae was measured (mouth-after length, area) and statistically analyzed. Twenty-six larvae from the collected larvae (n = 64; 23 dead, 3 alive) showed histological signs of infection from 3 d p.i. onwards. The dead larvae showed macroscopically white/brown deposits, indistinct segmentation, and a lack of body elongation. Infected larvae were significantly smaller than the controls on days 3 p.i. (p < 0.05), 4 p.i. (p < 0.001), and 6 p.i. (p < 0.05). The early time of death, the low number of transitional stages, and the strong penetration of the larval carcass with fungal mycelium indicate a rapid and fulminant infection process, which is probably relevant for spreading the disease within the colony.
期刊介绍:
Veterinary Sciences is an international and interdisciplinary scholarly open access journal. It publishes original that are relevant to any field of veterinary sciences, including prevention, diagnosis and treatment of disease, disorder and injury in animals. This journal covers almost all topics related to animal health and veterinary medicine. Research fields of interest include but are not limited to: anaesthesiology anatomy bacteriology biochemistry cardiology dentistry dermatology embryology endocrinology epidemiology genetics histology immunology microbiology molecular biology mycology neurobiology oncology ophthalmology parasitology pathology pharmacology physiology radiology surgery theriogenology toxicology virology.