Babesia bovis:: Culture of laboratory-adapted parasite lines and clinical isolates in a chemically defined medium

Jackson. L. A., Waldron, S. J., Weier, H. M., Nicoll, C. L., and Coolie. B. M. 2001. Babesia bovis: Culture of laboratory-adapted parasite lines and clinical isolates in a chemically defined medium. Experimental Parasitology 99, 168-174. Babesiosis caused by Babesia spp. is a disease of both veterinary and human importance. Here, we describe a method to continuously culture laboratory lines and field isolates of Babesia bovis in vitro in a chemically defined medium using ALBUMAX II as an alternative to bovine serum. Further, we have successfully cultured parasite isolates directly from cattle that failed to grow in traditional serum-containing medium. Variation of atmospheric gas composition and culture volumes to determine optimal growth conditions revealed that a 600-mul culture in an atmosphere comprising 5% O-2, 5% CO2, and 90% N-2 achieved a significantly higher percentage of parasitized red blood cells than any other combination tested. The process could be scaled up to reliably produce large volumes of parasites. Supplementation of the culture medium with hypoxanthine further improved parasite growth. B. bot,is cultured in this way could be the basis of an alternative, safer vaccine and a reliable source of parasites and exoantigens for parasitological research. (C) 2001 Academic Press (USA).