斑马鱼(Danio rerio)肠道线虫假毛球虫(Pseudocapillaria tomentosa)会引起严重的肠道损伤、消瘦和死亡，同时也是斑马鱼普遍肠道癌的促进因素。这种线虫已被检测出来占大约15%的实验室中的斑马鱼。成虫可以通过组织学或肠道湿片检查在暴露后的3周内被轻松发现，而幼虫则不太可能在此期间之前出现。最近开发了定量PCR(qPCR)测试以便检测鱼类和水中的线虫，我们发现在斑马鱼的肠道中使用该测试能够更早的进行检测。我们对斑马鱼四株品系(AB、TU、5D和Casper)进行了实验性感染，并在接种后的8、15、22、31和44天进行了湿片和qPCR的评估。在前两个时间点上，只有8%的暴露鱼的湿片被识别为感染，而同样的肠道经qPCR筛查后表现出78%的阳性率，这些时间的低且相对稳定的阈值(Ct)值也得到了证实。后期的湿片检查显示感染率较高，但仍被qPCR所超越。©2023 John Wiley＆Sons Ltd.

The intestinal nematode Pseudocapillaria tomentosa in zebrafish (Danio rerio) causes profound intestinal lesions, emaciation and death and is a promoter of a common intestinal cancer in zebrafish. This nematode has been detected in zebrafish from about 15% of the laboratories. Adult worms are readily detected about 3 weeks after exposure by either histology or wet mount preparations of the intestine, and larval worms are inconsistently observed in fish before this time. A quantitative PCR (qPCR) test was recently developed to detect the worm in fish and water, and here we determined that the test on zebrafish intestines was effective for earlier detection. Four lines of zebrafish (AB, TU, 5D and Casper) were experimentally infected and evaluated by wet mounts and qPCR at 8, 15-, 22-, 31- and 44-day post-exposure (dpe). At the first two time points, only 8% of the wet mounts from exposed fish were identified as infected, while the same intestines screened by qPCR showed 78% positivity, with low and consistent cycle threshold (Ct) values at these times. Wet mounts at later time points showed a high prevalence of infection, but this was still surpassed by qPCR.© 2023 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.