In vitro isolation and characterization of a Neospora sp. from aborted bovine foetuses

A Neospora sp. was isolated from the brains of two aborted bovine foetuses and grown continuously in vitro in bovine cell cultures. A comparison of the antigenic reactivity of in vitro cultivated tachyzoites with polyclonal antisera to Neospora caninum, Hammondia hammondi or Toxoplasma gondii revealed that the bovine protozoal isolates were similar to N. caninum and antigenically distinct from T. gondii. Tachyzoites of both bovine isolates had similar ultrastructural features, including an apical polar ring, conoid, electron-dense rhoptries and micronemes. The orientation of the micronemes, presence of micropores and a large number of electron-dense granules in the posterior portion of the bovine isolate tachyzoites differed from previous descriptions of N. caninum in vivo. Tachyzoites of the bovine isolates were ultrastructurally more similar to in vitro cultivated N. caninum tachyzoites than to tachyzoites of T. gondii or H. hammondi. The antigenic and ultrastructural similarities between N. caninum and the protozoal parasites isolated from aborted bovine foetuses in this study support the proposition that these parasites belong to the genus Neospora.