항아리곰팡이(Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis)가 무당개구리 (Bombina orientalis)의 탈피에 미치는 영향

Chytridiomycosis, caused by pathogenic amphibian chytrid fungus (Batrachochytrium dendrobatidis, Bd), threatens amphibian species around the world. Despite many years of multifaceted research about the pathogen and its effect on hosts, the basic physiological effects of the pathogen on host skin physiology have not been well studied. We studied the effect of Bd inoculation on subjects’ skin sloughing using histological analyses. We examined in vitro reactions of the ventral skin of oriental fire-bellied toads (Bombina orientalis) exposed to control, high and low concentration of Bd treatment. No distinct differences were apparent between control and Bd treatments except for a slight sign of sloughing in treatments at 8 hours after inoculation. However, at 24 hours, skin sloughing was observed in the Bd treatment while the control showed no continued sloughing. At 48 hours, we found evidence of a second sloughing but only in Bd treatment groups. Bombina orientalis appears resistant to Bd infection, yet still showed evidence of skin sloughing after exposure to Bd zoospores. This may be a starting point for understanding the physiological basis of host resistance to Bd.