Evidence: Gerbil (Meriones unguiculatus) husbandry, health & nutrition
Source: Europe PMC (Europe PubMed Central) REST search — first-hand peer-reviewed abstract records, pulled 2026-08-01. Queries covered husbandry, health/disease/parasitology, and nutrition/feeding for Meriones unguiculatus. The cluster returns 3 representative studies with abstracts below. Abstract text is verbatim from source; each study is traceable by PMID.
Studies
- PMID 41984800 (2026, G3 (Bethesda, Md.)) — Gene regulation in response to host sex and infection route in Brugia pahangi with new genome annotation.. Abstract (opening): Male rodents are almost exclusively used for experimental maintenance of filarial nematodes because they have higher susceptibility to parasitism than female rodents. This study investigates the effects that rodent host sex has on the worm transcriptome for subcutaneous (SQ) infections and intraperitoneal (IP) infections. Significantly more adult worms were recovered from IP-infected gerbils (median = 78 worms/infected animal) relative to SQ-infected gerbils (median = 2 worms/infected animal). Microfilaria production in male gerbils infected via the SQ route (mean = 6.62 microfilariae (mf)/20 µL, median = 5.65 mf/20 µL) was significantly greater than in female gerbils (mean = 0.43 mf/20 µL, median = 0 mf/20 µL). Male gerbils were also significantly more susceptible to SQ infection than females with a prevalence of 90% (n = 20) in males vs 27% (n = 29) in female gerbils. There was no significant difference in the number of adult worms recovered between male and female gerbils for either infection route. No statistically significant gene expression differences were observed in comparisons of worms of the same life stage/sex from male and female gerbils. In subcutaneously infected gerbils, the identification of differentially expressed genes was likely precluded by the markedly different transcript profiles between replicates. However, the transcriptional profiles for IP-infected gerbils were homogenous suggesting that the host sex does not alter nematode gene expression in the life stages examined from the IP model. The lack of impact of host sex on the transcriptome of worms isolated from IP-infected gerbils reinforces the use of male gerbils as the primary rearing host for these parasites. Genome annotation of B. pahangi is reported as it was required for this differential expression analysis. *[CC BY — Open Access, verbatim with attribution.]*
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41984800/
- PMID 41754451 (2026, Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland)) — *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Using the nonpermissive Mongolian gerbil, researchers compared intraperitoneal infection with Brugia malayi (permissive control) versus Dirofilaria immitis third-stage larvae. D. immitis recovery was only 0.4% at day 1 versus 37.4% for B. malayi, rose to 23.6% by day 3 (suggesting transient tissue residence during the third molt), then fell; by day 36 B. malayi reached the immature adult stage (15.2%) while no viable D. immitis were recovered, indicating a robust macrophage-dominated response after the molt blocks establishment and explaining filarial host specificity.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41754451/
- PMID 42068468 (2026, Acta parasitologica) — *[Paraphrased derived summary — non-Open-Access source.]* Across 120 faecal samples from pet Mongolian and fat-tailed gerbils in three Chinese provinces (60 each), Entamoeba infection was found in 10% overall (11.7% and 8.3% respectively). Sequence analysis identified Entamoeba muris (n=10) and a novel lineage termed CL-FTG (n=2); no zoonotic E. histolytica or E. dispar DNA was detected. The study provides the first molecular characterisation of eight-nucleated Entamoeba and the first report of E. muris cysts from pet gerbils in China.
Source: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42068468/
Source text: pdf-raw/evidence/europepmc_gerbil_husbandry_health_2026-08-01.txt (Europe PMC first-hand abstracts, pulled 2026-08-01).
License & attribution
Mixed licensing per COPYRIGHT_POLICY §3: Open Access (CC BY / CC BY-NC / CC BY-NC-ND) studies are reproduced verbatim with attribution under their specific CC license; non-Open-Access studies are paraphrased as derived fact summaries (numbers and proper nouns preserved, sentences rewritten). Original records:
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41984800/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41754451/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42068468/
- https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/41791851/
Cleaning removal log (2026-08-05, codebuddy)
PMID 41995082 — gerbil as one of 7 species in cone-rod dystrophy cadherin localization; model-organism/comparative, not a gerbil subject PMID 41623382 — plateau zokor (Eospalax baileyi) gut microbiota; different rodent species, not gerbil PMID 41776390 — mouse models of gastric cancer review, not gerbil PMID 42166495 — zoonotic leishmaniasis in China (dogs/humans), not gerbil PMID 42236358 — Babesia microti in vitro culture perspective, not gerbil PMID 42190305 — gerbil as one of 2 species in human cochlear model; model-organism, not a gerbil subject PMID 42418343 — gerbil liver used as sample source for Yersinia pestis genotyping assay; model/assay only PMID 42179359 — Strongyloides stercoralis transgenesis review; Mongolian gerbil only mentioned as passage host, not studied PMID 41791851 — antiviral drug study (bemnifosbuvir, Gut), not pet husbandry (removed 2026-08-24, kimi)