Gastrointestinal parasitic infection in laboratory rats: a challenge for researchers

Laboratory animals, especially mice and rats, are commonly used in biomedical researches. This study was designed to evaluate the status of gastrointestinal parasites in Wistar rats using parasitological methods. Sixty Wistar rats in different ages which were being maintained conventionally were selected randomly from laboratory animal house. The contents of the gastrointestinal tract of the rats were examined by parasitological methods. All of the rats under study were infected with at least one parasite. Twelve genera of parasites were detected in the rats, the six of which were protozoa including Giardia muris, Entamoeba muris, Blastocystis spp., Eimeria spp., Tritrichomonas muris, and Cryptosporidium spp., and the six other ones were helminths including Hymenolepis nana, Syphacia muris, Syphacia obvelata, Strongyloides ratti, Trichosomoides crassicauda (bladder parasite), and Aspiculuris tetraptera. G. muris showed the highest prevalence rate (96%) followed by T. muris (95%). In addition, the lowest prevalence rate observed in this study was related to S. obvelata, S. ratti, T. crassicauda, and A. tetraptera, all with 1.5% prevalence. Consequently, it is crucial for researchers to monitor laboratory animals by health surveillance programs, essentially emphasizing the good laboratory practice (GLP) to ensure the quality, consistency, and reproducibility of data in their research.