938 THE JOURNAL OF PARASITOLOGY, VOL. 87, NO.

4, AUGUST 2001
J. Parasitol., 87(4), 2001, pp. 938939
American Society of Parasitologists 2001
Sarcocystis miescheriana infection in domestic pigs (Sus scrofa) in the Philippines
F. G. Claveria, C. De La Pen a, and M. J. Cruz-Flores, Biology Department, College of Science, De La Salle UniversityManila, Taft Avenue,
Manila, Philippines
FIGURES 12. Transmission electron micrographs of S. miescheriana in the diaphragm muscle tissue of swine. 1. Sarcocyst wall with thickly
packed and cylindrical villar protrusions (VP), and packets of bradyzoites (B) and metrocytes (M). Bar: 5 m. 2. Longitudinal sections of VP.
Bar: 2 m.
ABSTRACT: Sarcocystis miescheriana sarcocysts were identied in
skeletal muscles of 9 (27%) of 33 swine slaughtered for human con-
sumption. Sarcocysts were 144180 m 2038 m in size. Ultra-
structurally, the cyst wall resembled the type 10 sarcocyst wall. The
villar protrusions (VP) were 34.5 m long and 0.61.2 m wide and
had prominent longitudinally arranged microtubules extending from the
VP tips to the granular layer (ground substance). The parasitophorous
vacuolar membrane with its underlying electron-dense layer (EDL)
measured 25 nm in thickness. The base of the VP exhibited minute
(0.420.87 m) bulblike inpocketings. Each VP had 8090 microtu-
bules situated underneath the EDL. The granular layer was 0.51.2 m
thick, and contained hairlike microtubules continuous with those of the
VP core. This is the rst report of S. miescheriana in Philippine do-
mestic pigs Sus scrofa.
Sarcocystis miescheriana (Kuhn, 1865) Labbe, 1899 (syno-
nym: Sarcocystis suicanis Erber, 1977), and Sarcocystis suih-
ominis (Tandros and Laarman, 1976) Heydorn, 1977 are 2 spe-
cies that infect pigs worldwide (Prestwood et al., 1980; Pereira
and Bermejo, 1988; Dubey et al., 1989; Saleque and Bhatia,
1991; Omata et al., 1993). The validity of another species, Sar-
cocystis porcifelis Dubey, 1976, is still unconrmed (Dubey et
al., 1989). A preliminary survey by Claveria et al. (1997) doc-
umented for the rst time the presence of S. miescheriana-like
sarcocysts in skeletal muscles of pigs in the Philippines. The
difculty in isolating sarcocysts necessary for ultrastructural
evaluation of the cyst wall was compounded by the low-grade
infection in muscle tissue samples that prevented further work
on species identication. In the present paper, the rst report of
S. miescheriana infection is documented in Philippine domestic
pigs Sus scrofa.
Muscle tissue samples were collected within a 3-mo period
from 33 freshly slaughtered 25-yr-old domestic pigs from the
slaughterhouse of a restaurant in Manila that specializes in
whole grilled pigs. Considering the need to keep the pigs skin
intact to assure the taste and quality of whole grilled pigs, only
muscles of the heart, cervix, diaphragm, esophagus, and phar-
ynx were available for examination. Consequently, skeletal
muscles were not used in the study. Tissue samples collected
in labeled plastic bags were transported in a cooler to the Zo-
ology and Parasitology Research Laboratory, De La Salle Uni-
versityManila, and samples were examined for sarcocysts on
the day of collection. The presence of sarcocysts was deter-
RESEARCH NOTES 939
FIGURE 3. Cross sections of VP with microtubules (arrowheads) and
beadlike inpocketings (arrows). Bar: 0.3 m.
mined through gross inspection and examination of unstained
muscle tissue smears with the aid of light microscopy. Tissue
samples positive for sarcocysts were xed in 10% formalin, and
processed following the standard histologic and hematoxylin
and eosin staining procedures. For ultrastructural studies, sam-
ples containing sarcocysts were xed in ice-cold 2.5% glutar-
aldehyde, processed for transmission electron microscopy
(TEM), and examined with a TEM model JEOL-1010, Japan
at the BioMedical Research Laboratory, St. Lukes Medical
Center, Quezon City, Manila.
Sarcocysts were found in 9 of 33 pigs (27.3%). Round to
fusiform sarcocysts were seen in the diaphragm, esophageal,
pharyngeal, and cervical muscles, but not in the heart. Sarco-
cysts were 144180 m and 2038 m in size. By light mi-
croscopy, the cyst wall was 46 m thick.
The cyst wall had villar protrusions (VP) with blunt and
mostly attened tips (Figs. 13) The parasitophorous vacuolar
membrane (PVM) with its underlying electron-dense layer
(EDL) was 25 nm in thickness. The VP were 34.5 m long
and 0.61.2 m wide, about 2550 nm apart, and had promi-
nent longitudinally arranged microtubules/striations extending
from their tips to the granular layer (ground substance) (GL).
The base of the VP exhibited minute (0.420.87 m) bulblike
inpocketings. Each VP had approximately 8090 microtubules
situated underneath the EDL, and numerous other microtubules
were scattered within the VP core. The GL was 0.51.2 m
thick and contained hairlike microtubules continuous with those
of the VP core. The cyst wall ultrastructure resembled a type
10 sarcocyst wall (Dubey et al., 1989).
In the present study, sarcocysts were smaller in size than
reported from pigs in Georgia (USA) (Barrows et al., 1982) and
in Germany (Erber, 1977). According to Dubey et al. (1989),
size variations within the same species are acceptable in species
identication when one considers the inuence of the parasite
age or stage of development, location, and host cell parasitized,
and difference in the technique used in tissue processing and
evaluation. The ultrastructure of the sarcocyst wall in the pre-
sent study is essentially similar to that of S. meischeriana re-
ported earlier (Erber, 1977; Dubey et al., 1989). Sarcocystis
suihominis has not been found in the present study.
We express our sincere appreciation to the International
Foundation for Science, Stockholm, Sweden (research grant
number B/2652-2), and to the University Research Coordina-
tion Ofce, and the College of Science, Center for Natural Sci-
ences and Environmental Research of the De La Salle Univer-
sityManila for their support. Our thanks also go to Denise
Bacani and Ronald Esquiva for sharing their technical expertise
in transmission electron microscopy.
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