PARASITOLOGICAL AND IMMUNOLOGICAL STUDIES ON SOME EGYPTIAN AMPHIBIANS

The present study deals with studies on parasites infection in some Egyptian amphibians. The majority of individuals caught from the breeding aggregation of the two species of Anura (Rana bedriagae and Bufo regularis).The helminth fauna consisted of one species of Nematoda, one species of Trematoda and one species of Cestoda. It was found that R. bedriagae (42%) were infected with one species of Nematoda, Falcaustra catesbeianae while B. regularis (99%) were infected wIn both R. bedriagae and B. regularis, their snout-vent (SV) lengths did not differ significantly between sexes and mode of parasitic infection. The composition of blood leucocytes of anuran amphibian investigated in the present study showed a parasite-spThere was a significant negative correlation found between the number of parasites and ileum length in R. bedriagae. Also, a significant positive correlation was found between the number of parasites and large intestine length of frogs. In case of B. reguThe distribution of gut-associated lymphoid-tissues (GALT) in each region of the gastrointestinal tract of the two species variable according to the type of parasites and mode of infection. In R. bedriagae and B. regularis the gut-associated lymphoid noduThe histopathological study showed changes in the structure of the gut in parasite-infected animals. The small intestine of the two genera Rana and Bufo infected with nematodes, showed flattened villi with proliferation of epithelial cells and metaplasia Moreover, the histological architecture of gut-associated lymphoid tissues (GALT) in parasite-infected animals showed a significant variations. In nematode-infected individuals of R. bedriagae and B. regularis numerous number of lymphoid nodules were obseIn this study, it was found that the level of interleukin-2, IL-4, IL-5 and IL-2 was not significantly decreased after parasite infection in the two amphibian species studied. However, IFN-? level was significantly decreased in the both species used after