Protist Life in the Intestines Flashcards
What are examples of intestinal protist?
- Blastocystis hominis
- Balantidium coli
- Cryptosporidium
- Giardia
- Entamoeba
What are gastrointestinal symptoms?
Diarrhoea
Gastroenteritis
Dysentery
What is diarrhoea?
Increase in stool frequency and fluid/ loose or watery stool at least three times a day
What is gastroenteritis?
Condition that causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and abdominal distress
What is dysentery?
Involved blood and mucus in stool resulting from damage to large intestine
What are water-/foodborne associated with?
Contaminated food and water
What does water-/foodborne lead to?
Dehydration, malabsoption
What is the second leading causes of death among children under 5 globally?
Diarrhoea
What causes diarrhoea?
Viruses, bacteria and protist
What is the purpose of GI tract?
- Take up nutrients from food
- Protect rest of body from intestinal content
What is the pH in large intestine?
5.5-7.5
What is the pO2 in large intestine?
<33 mmHg
What is the pH in small intestine?
5.0-5.5
What is the pO2 in small intestine?
33 mm Hg
What is the pH in stomach?
1-4
What is the pO2 in stomach?
77 mm Hg
What are the 4 basic layers of GI tract?
Mucosa
Submucosa
Muscle layers
Serosa
Define enterocytes:
Cells in the small intestine
What is the microvilli on the apical surface adapted for?
Increases surface area for digestion and transport of molecules from intestinal lumen
What are the different types of diarrhoea?
- Osmotic
- Inflammatory
- Secretory
What does diarrhoea result on?
Fluid loss and dehydration
What is osmotic diarrhoea?
- Excessive solutes
- Enterocyte malfunction
- Impaired absorption
- Enhanced secretion
What is inflammatory diarrhoea?
- Disruption of epithelial cell barrier
- Inflammation leads to increased permeability
- Leukocytes in stool can lead to blood in lumen
What is secretory diarrhoea?
Toxin associated
Excessively watery
What are the advantages of living in the intestine?
- Continual food source
- Warm, moist environment
- Nutrient sin simple chemical form
What are the challenges of living in the intestine?
- Changes in pH (acidic to basic)
- Natural mucus barrier
- Mechanical removal peristalsis
- Innate immune system
- Must be motile
What are the two states of transmission cycles of intestinal protists?
- Cyst stage
- Trophozoite stage
What occurs in cyst stage?
- Resistant
- Infective
- Ingested in contained food/water
- Cysts are excreted and are infectious
What occurs in trophozoite stage?
- Feeding
- Replication
- Motile stage
- Inhabit intestinal tract (not infectious)
- Symptomatic stage
What is another name for Giardia lambilia?
Giardia lamblia = G. intestinalis = G. duodenalis
Who first submitted a drawing of Giardia lamblia?
Lambl
What are the most common protozoal parasite isolated from human stool?
Giardia lamblia
How many new cases of Giardia lamblia each year?
> 500,000
Is Giardia lamblia fatal?
Yes, in undeveloped countries due to untreated malabsorption and dehydration