Mayrim Pereira

Ms. Mayrim Pereira

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Research Focus & Metrics

Academic Career Length

1Year (2026-Present)

(Calculated once Scilit publication data is synced: current year − year of first publication + 1)

Representative Publications

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11 November 2026 in Biology
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Journal Article
Open access
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MPMayrim Pereira
Mayrim Pereira
NBNatalia Beneduzi
Natalia Beneduzi
TSTanner Scull
Tanner Scull
Honglin JiangHonglin Jiang
Honglin Jiang
RBRand Broadway
Rand Broadway
OBOscar J. Benitez
Oscar J. Benitez
The bovine gastrointestinal (GI) epithelium plays a central role in nutrient absorption, barrier regulation, and host–microbe interactions; however, primary cell-based in vitro systems for bovine GI tissues remain limited. Isolation and maintenance of primary gastrointestinal epithelial cells are challenging due to tissue complexity, microbial contamination risk, and culture-associated phenotypic changes. This study aimed to isolate, culture, and perform a preliminary marker-based characterization of epithelial-enriched primary bovine gastrointestinal cell cultures derived from four GI tract segments: rumen, jejunum, ileum, and colon. Gastrointestinal tissues were collected from three 4-month-old Holstein calves. Luminal mucosal tissue was mechanically separated, enzymatically dissociated, and cultured in vitro. Initial culture performance outcomes, including post-cell isolation viability, were recorded. Epithelial cell-associated gene expression was evaluated using qPCR for CDH1, CLDN4, TJP1, KRT8, and KRT18 at three stages: whole tissue, post-cell isolation, and post-cell culture. Keratin 8 (KRT8) staining was assessed by immunofluorescence in pooled cultured cells, with descriptive quantification of KRT8-positive cells in the available images. Linear mixed-effects analysis accounting for repeated measurements within calf identified an effect of experimental stage for all five transcripts after false-discovery-rate correction. Overall effects of Segment and the Segment × Stage interaction were retained only for TJP1, indicating that stage-associated expression patterns were not uniform among gastrointestinal regions for this marker. KRT8 immunofluorescence demonstrated KRT8-positive cells in cultures derived from all four gastrointestinal segments. Across eight quantified fields, 244 out of 325 DAPI-defined cells (75.1%) were classified as KRT8-positive. These findings support the isolation and culture of epithelial-enriched primary bovine GI cultures under the conditions tested. While additional standardized culture-performance assessment, expanded characterization of epithelial and non-epithelial cell populations, passage stability analysis, and functional barrier assays are needed, this work provides a preliminary methodological framework for epithelial-enriched primary bovine GI cell cultures and supports their future application in studies of epithelial biology, host–microbe interactions, and molecular responses of the bovine gastrointestinal tract.