Morphometric and molecular analysis of Fasciola species obtained from slaughtered ruminants

In this study, it was aimed to examine adult Fasciola species obtained from the liver bile ducts of slaughtered cattle, sheep, and goats at the abattoir using morphometric and molecular methods. For this purpose, the livers of a total of 1,028 animals, including 281 cattle, 529 sheep, and 218 goats, were examined. Fifty adult Fasciola samples were used from the 51 Fasciola species isolates obtained. Morphometric measurements of parasites were performed under a stereo microscope at 8X magnification. For species identification of the samples, the ITS1 region was amplified by PCR following gDNA isolation. The amplified ITS1 region was digested using the RsaI restriction enzyme by the PCR-RFLP method. Fasciola species were detected in 51 animals, including 24 cattle (8.54%), 19 sheep (3.59%), and eight goats (3.67%). PCR-RFLP method showed that 45 of the isolates were Fasciola hepatica and five were intermediate forms of Fasciola. The evaluation of measurement results obtained using the body length-to-body width ratio through ROC analysis revealed that F. hepatica and intermediate Fasciola forms could not be distinguished from each other. The intermediate form of Fasciola was identified for the first time in Turkey through this study by the PCR-RFLP method. It was concluded that morphometric analysis alone is insufficient for the definitive identification of Fasciola species, and that a molecular method such as PCR-RFLP should be used.