Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-20T05:32:46.415Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Turnover of microfilariae in small mammals 2. Disintegration of microfilariae (Acanthocheilonema viteae) (Filarioidea: Nematoda) after intravenous injection into the jird, Meriones unguiculatus*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

P. Wenk ,
E. Kellermann  and
C. Hafner
P. Wenk
Affiliation:
Institute for Tropical Medicine, Eberhard – Karls University Research Laboratories, Wilhelmstrasse 27, D-72074 Tübingen, FRG
E. Kellermann
Affiliation:
Institute for Tropical Medicine, Eberhard – Karls University Research Laboratories, Wilhelmstrasse 27, D-72074 Tübingen, FRG
C. Hafner
Affiliation:
Institute for Tropical Medicine, Eberhard – Karls University Research Laboratories, Wilhelmstrasse 27, D-72074 Tübingen, FRG
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

After i.v. injection of 305 × 103 microfilariae (mf) per animal (50 g) into naive jirds, 50·8% of them could be recovered at autopsy 15 min later. Of these, 65·8% were calculated to be in the peripheral circulating blood (PCB) and were completely intact; 18·6% were recovered by perfusion of the lungs and 13·6% from the liver. In both organs about half the mf were associated with adherent lymphocytes and neutrophils but a few were partly disintegrated. Only 2·6% were recovered from the kidneys and the spleen. In long-term injection experiments using the same inoculum size the autopsy was done 15 min and 1, 3 and 6 weeks post-injection (p.i.) of mf into naive jirds. Throughout the experimental period the density of mf remained more or less constant in the PCB, but 3 weeks p.i. the density in the lungs increased up to 14 times to that in the PCB, whereas in the liver it decreased at the same time to a density similar to that in the PCB. In patent animals with adult worms delivering mf these were distributed as follows: 34·7% were calculated to be in the PCB; 24·4% were obtained by perfusion from the lungs and 22·0% from the liver; the rest were found in the kidneys (16·6%) and spleen (2·3%). In the lungs and the liver about 5/6 were associated with adherent cells, partly disintegrated or as fragments. In view of the fact that very few mf become disintegrated immediately after i.v. injection and also from their extremely long sojourn in the PCB, a low turnover rate of mf is presumed. The limited fecundity of the female adults combined with the 20 weeks median circulation time of injected mf in the PCB supports this view.

Keywords

Acanthocheilonema viteaeFilarioideaNematodarodent filariasismicrofilariaeparasitaemia
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 109 , Issue 2 , August 1994 , pp. 201 - 207
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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

REFERENCES

Bayer, M. (1988). Immunstatus und Verlauf der Filariose (Dipetalonema viteae, Litomosoides carinii) in den Kleinsäugern Meriones unguiculatus und Sigmodon hispidus. Thesis (Biol), Tübingen.Google Scholar
Bayer, M. & Wenk, P. (1988). Homologous and correlating immune response of the jird and the cotton rat against microfilariae of Dipetalonema viteae and Litomosoides carinii (Nematoda: Filarioidea). Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 39, 304–8.Google Scholar
Eberhard, M. L. (1986). Longevity of microfilariae following removal of the adult worms. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 37, 361–3.Google ScholarPubMed
Eberhard, M. L. & Orihel, T. C. (1986). Loa boa: Output of microfilariae in single pair infections. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 37, 369–84.Google Scholar
Goennert, R. (1943). Zur Lebensdauer menschlicher Mikrofilarien. Zentralblatt fuer Bakteriologie I. Originalmitteilungen 149, 75–81.Google Scholar
Jaquet, C. (1980). Litomosoides carinii (Travassos 1919) Chandler, 1913 (Filarioidea) in cotton rats (Sigmodon hispidus, Say et Ord, 1825) and jirds (Meriones unguiculatus, Milne-Edwards, 1867): comparison of the infection in relation to the immune response. Thesis, Neuchaâtel.Google Scholar
Kellermann, E. (1988). Abbaurate der Mikrofilarien von Litomosoides carinii und Acanthocheilonema viteae (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in Lunge und Leber ihrer natürlichen Wirte. Thesis (Diploma Biol), Tübingen.Google Scholar
Mössinger, J. (1990). Nematoda, Filarioidea. In In Vitro Cultivation of Parasitic Helminths (ed. Smith, J. D.), pp. 155–185. Boca Raton, Florida: CRC Press.Google Scholar
Mössinger, J. (1991). In vitro cultivation of adult Litomosoides carinii: evaluation of basic culture media, gas phases and supplements. Parasitology 103, 85–95.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mössinger, J. & Barthold, E. (1988). Fecundity and localisation of Dipetalonema viteae (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in the jird Meriones unguiculatus. Parasitology Research 74, 84–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mössinger, J. & Wenk, P. (1986). Fecundity of Litomosoides carinii (Nematoda: Filarioidea) in vivo and in vitro. Zeitschrift fuer Parasitenkunde 72, 121–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Oerter, T., Klaeger, S., Bain, O. & Schulz-Key, H. (1990). Monanema martini in Lemniscomys striatus: fecundity, distribution of microfilariae and habitat of adult filariae. Zentralblatt fuer Bakteriologie 317, 46.Google Scholar
Sachs, L. (1972). Statistische Auswertungsmethoden. 3. Aufl. Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sachs, L. (1982). Applied Statistics. A Handbook of Techniques. 2nd Edn.Berlin, Heidelberg, New York: Springer.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulz-Key, H. (1990). Observations on the reproductive biology of Onchocerca volvulus. Acta Leidensia 59, 27–43.Google ScholarPubMed
Wegerhof, P.-H. & Wenk, P. (1979). Studies on acquired resistance of the cotton rat against microfilariae of Litomosoides carinii. 1. The influence of single and repeated injections of microfilariae on the parasitaemia. Zeitschrift fuer Parasitenkunde 60, 55–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weinstein, P. P. & Sawyer, T. K. (1961). Survival of adult Dirofilaria uniformis in vitro and their production of microfilariae. Journal of Parasitology 47, 23–4.Google Scholar
Wenk, P., Kellermann, E. & Seeger, V. (1993). Turnover of microfilariae in small mammals. 1. Disintegration of microfilariae (Litomosoides carinii) (Filarioidea: Nematoda) after intravenous injection into Sigmodon hispidus, the cotton rat. Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 44, 299–304.Google Scholar
Wenk, P. & Wegerhof, P.-H. (1982). Studies on acquired resistance of the cotton rat against microfilariae of Litomosoides carinii. 2. Injection of microfilariae during prepatency. Zeitschrift fuer Parasitenkunde 68, 321–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed