Oxygen concentration and asexual development of Eimeria tenella in cell cultures

Primary chicken kidney cells in Flexiperm cultures were either inoculated with Eimeria tenella sporozoites or incubated as noninoculated controls. Oxygen concentration was reduced (10 or 15 vol% O2, 5 vol% CO2) or increased (25 or 30 vol% O2, 5 vol% CO2) in a triple gas incubator (Heraeus B 5061 EK/O2) and retained in a CO2-air incubator (20 vol% O2, 5 vol% CO2) 24 hours post inoculation (hpi). Mature second generation schizonts (mS2) were counted microscopically at 120 hpi and numbers were compared either as mS2 or mS2/cm2 confluent cells. Asexual development of Eimeria tenella was neither stimulated nor inhibited by different oxygen concentrations, indicating that higher numbers of schizonts in cultures under reducing conditions reported earlier are probably a result of increased invasion rates of sporozoites.