I found this cells (picture below) when i did hemocytometry of Cavia sp.'s blood with Turck reagent. But it can't be found in smear preparation with Giemsa staining. It was big ovoid cell, central small rounded nucleus, full of organels. Blood collected both, via vena cava hepatica and sinus retro orbitalis. Is that kind of parasitic worm or something?
This is picture of the same cells with different focus, shows many organels
What kind of parasite's ova is that? And why does it can't be found in smear with Giemsa stain preparation?
Thy do not have the shape or size of immune cells, so your animals are probably sick. Best way is to check in the papers for Guinea pig parasite and try to make a comparison
Are you sure these aren't an environmental contaminant, e.g. pollen grain? They look more consistent in size with something environmental and in the second image they look like they might have a distinct wall. Pollen and bedding material can pick up stain and have internal structures that mimic cellular material-try looking at cytology images of pollen in urine samples, they look similar. Alternatively, is it possible that the cytometer has recently been used to count yeast and not adequately cleaned afterwards?
Hi annggadia,
It looks like a parasitic cell to me, but its strange if you can't find the same cell with Giemsa staining, so I would suspect if they grew after the smear preparation (just a thought), alternately if your guinea pigs are sick, or being feed contaminated water/food etc., then probably it may have developed those parasite.
This has happened to me once, I found some strange looking cells on human cartilage slides ( cartilage was received from patients), later on I came to know it was a rare type of fungus that grew on top of my slides and specimen (upto a depth of 500 microns).
Hope this helps,
Polly
It looks like a parasite egg (specifically hookworm) but you will need a good parasitology guide for correct identification. Moreso, a more sensitive method like PCR can be adopted for the suspected parasites for accurate diagnosis
Thanks all for helping me ^_^...
@Unity Locke: Thanks for your suggestion, I'll do urine check for my Cavia, to see if it also found in the urine. So can you suggest me the method for urine test? Can I use Turck preparation? I used hemocytometer which is specialized for blood count so i doubt if they're contaminant that stick to hemocytometer.
@Dr. Polly Lama: thanks for your help... hmm it could be, since i fed them with fresh grass. But, hemocytometry and smear preparation done almost simultaneously after blood collection. We can say that the blood sample was incubated just a few minutes before Hemocytometry.
You may not find them now in urine from your animals, it's just that pollen etc is common environmental contaminant in cytology, and often shows up in urine from other species (try google images for some examples). If you want to check in your animals, try centrifuging 1ml of urine at 400g for 5 minutes in a microcentrifuge tube with a rounded base. Discard most of the supernatant and then resuspend the sediment in the base of the tube. You can stain this with a drop of new methylene blue or similar, but you can also look at it unstained. Put a drop on a microscope slide, and place a coverslip over the top. You will get better detail if you lower the condenser and partially close the diaphragm on your microscope.
You can also check for environmental contaminants by coating a slide with something sticky (e.g. serum) and while it's still wet, shaking bedding near the slide. This slide can then be stained with diff quick or similar once it's dry.
Also, did the structure show up in blood samples from both sites. I'm struggling to think of any parasite where eggs would show up in a retro-orbital sample but parasitology has never been my strongest subject!
@Unity Locke: yes, it found in blood samples from both sites. Thank you for your advice, it's really helpful. ^_^
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