Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-x5gtn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-04T05:44:15.902Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of a 100 metacercarial cyst inoculum on the host–parasite relationship of Echinostoma caproni and ICR mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2024

C.D. Balfour
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA
M. Rossi
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA
B. Fried*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Fax: 610 330 5705 E-mail: friedb@lafayette.edu

Abstract

The host–parasite relationship of a 100 metacercarial cyst inoculum of Echinostoma caproni in the ICR mouse was examined. Three groups of mice, A, B and C, each with six mice per group were used and all mice were necropsied at 14 days postinfection (p.i.), at which time the worms were ovigerous. Group A consisted of uninfected controls, whereas group B received 25 cysts per mouse (low dose) and group C received 100 cysts per mouse (high dose). There was no significant difference in food consumption between any of the groups from 0 to 14 days p.i. Control mice increased their body weight by 12%, group B by 5%, and group C showed a less than 1% increase in body weight between 0 and 14 days p.i. Echinostome parasitism caused a significant increase in the diameter of the mouse gut, with the gut of group C being more significantly dilated than that of either group A or B. The average worm recovery from group B was 20 worms per host, compared to 72 worms per host from group C. The mean wet and dry weights per worm from group B were 2.4 and 0.4 mg, respectively as compared to 0.6 and 0.2 mg respectively for group C. The mean number of uterine eggs per worm from group B was 180 compared to 125 for worms from group C. Worms from group C were more widely distributed in the small intestine than those from group B. Crowding effects associated with the high dose infection were clearly demonstrated in E. caproni from ICR mice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Fried, B. & Freeborne, N.E. (1984) Effects of Echinostoma revolutum (Trematoda) adults on various dimensions of the chick intestine, and observations on worm crowding. Proceedings of the Helminthological Society of Washington 51, 297300.Google Scholar
Fried, B. & Huffman, J.E. (1996) The biology of the intestinal trematode Echinostoma caproni . Advances in Parasitology 38, 311367.10.1016/S0065-308X(08)60037-8CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Manger, P.M., Jr, Fried, B. (1993) Infectivity, growth, and distribution of preovigerous adults of Echinostoma caproni in ICR mice. Journal of Helminthology 67, 158160.10.1017/S0022149X00013055CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Yao, G., Huffman, J.E. & Fried, B. (1991) The effects of crowding on adults of Echinostoma caproni in experimentally infected golden hamsters. Journal of Helminthology 65, 248254.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed