Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dlnhk Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T03:14:53.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Certain aspects of the host-parasite relationship of Nematospiroides dubius (Baylis)

VI. The effects of the age, sex and species of the host on worm growth

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Colin Dobson
Colin Dobson
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University of Sheffield.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

Adults of Nematospiroides dubius recovered from female mice were smaller than those from male mice. In general, a similar result was obtained for infections in rats. Longer worms were recovered from gonadectomized rats than from intact animals; the difference between the growth of the worms in male and female hosts was still apparent.

Treatment of castrate male rats with testosterone was more favourable to the growth of the male than the female worm. Oestradiol treatment of spayed female rats caused a stunting of both sexes of the nematode. However, this effect was least noticeable among the female worms.

An increase in the age of the rat resulted in a decrease in the lengths of the worms recovered. The worms grew to greater lengths in 25-day-old mice than in rats of the same age and sex.

It is suggested that the sex hormones may have two effects on worm growth. First, an indirect effect involving the nutrition of the worm, and secondly, a direct effect of the hormones themselves on the tissues of the worm.

This work was done during the tenure of a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research Studentship. My thanks are due to Dr E. T. B. Francis for his help and criticism, and to Professor I. Chester Jones, in whose department the work was done, for the facilities he provided.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 56 , Issue 3 , August 1966 , pp. 407 - 416
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1966

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

Ackert, J. E. (1942). Natural resistance to helminthic infections. J. Parasit. 28, 1–24.Google Scholar
Ackert, J. E., Porter, D. A. & Beach, T. D. (1935). Age resistance of chickens to the nematode Ascaridia lineata (Schneider). J. Parasit. 21, 205–13.Google Scholar
Ackert, J. E., Edgar, S. A. & Frick, L. P. (1939). Goblet cells and age resistance of animals to parasitism. Trans. Am. microsc. Soc. 58, 81–9.Google Scholar
Addis, C. M. (1946). Experiments on the relation of sex hormones and growth of the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta in rats. J. Parasit. 32, 574–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Asboe-Hansen, G. (1958). Hormonal effects on connective tissue. Physiol. Rev. 38, 446–61.Google Scholar
Beck, J. W. (1952). Effect of gonadectomy and gonadal hormones on singly established Hymenolepis diminuta in rats. Expl Parasit. 1, 109–17.Google Scholar
Dobson, C. (1961 a). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Nematospiroides dubius (Baylis). I. Resistance of male and female mice to experimental infections. Parasitology 51, 173–9.Google Scholar
Dobson, C. (1961 b). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Nematospiroides dubius (Baylis). II. The effect of sex on experimental infections in the rat (an abnormal host). Parasitology 51, 499–510.Google Scholar
Dobson, C. (1961 c). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Nematospiroides dubius (Baylis). III. The effects of milk diet on experimental infections in the adult male mouse. Parasitology 51, 511–14.Google Scholar
Dobson, C. (1962 a). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Nematospiroides dubius (Baylis). IV. The effects of the host's age on experimental infections in the mouse and rat. Parasitology 52, 31–40.Google Scholar
Dobson, C. (1962 b). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Nematospiroides dubius (Baylis). V. Host specificity. Parasitology 52, 41–8.Google Scholar
Dobson, C. (1964). Host endocrine interactions with nematode infections. I. Effects of sex, gonadectomy, and thyroidectomy in lambs. Expl Parasit. 15, 200–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dobson, C. (1965). The relationship between worm population density, host survival and the growth of the third-stage larva of Amplicaecum robertsi Sprent & Mines, 1960, in the mouse. Parasitology 55, 183–93.Google Scholar
Herlich, H. (1960). Age resistance of cattle to nematodes of the gastrointestinal tract. J. Parasit. 46, 392–7.Google Scholar
Kao, K. Y. T. & McGavack, T. H. (1959). Connective tissue. I. Age and sex influence on protein composition of rat tissues. Proc. Soc. exp. Biol. Med. 101, 153–7.Google Scholar
Lewert, R. M. (1958). Invasiveness of helminth larvae. Rice Inst. Pamph. 45, 97–113.Google Scholar
Mathies, A. W. Jr (1959). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Aspiculuris tetraptera, a mouse pinworm. II. Sex resistance. Expl Parasit. 8, 39–45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mathies, A. W. Jr (1962). Certain aspects of the host–parasite relationship of Aspiculuris tetraptera, a mouse pinworm. III. Effect of cortisone. J. Parasit. 48, 244–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicol, J. & Bilbey, D. L. (1958). The effect of various steroids on the phagocytic activity of the reticuloendothelial system. In Reticuloendothelial Structure and Function (ed. Heller, J. H.), pp. 301–20. New York: Ronald Press Co.Google Scholar
Rosen, A. L., Dougherty, E. C. & Bern, H. A. (1951). The reproduction of Rhabditis briggsae (Nematoda) as influenced by steroid hormones and thyroxine. J. Parasit. 37, Sect. 2, Suppl. 15 (Abstr.).Google Scholar
Sommerville, R. I. (1964). Effect of carbon dioxide on the development of third stage larvae of Haemonchus contortus in vitro. Nature, Lond. 202, 316–17.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1963 a). The life history and development of Amplicaecum robertsi, an ascaridoid nematode of the carpet python (Morelia spilotes variegatus). I. Morphology and functional significance of larval stages. Parasitology 53, 7–38.Google Scholar
Sprent, J. F. A. (1963 b). The life history and development of Amplicaecum robertsi, an ascaridoid nematode of the carpet python (Morelia spilotes variegatus). II. Growth and host specificity of larval stages in relation to the food chain. Parasitology 53, 321–37.Google Scholar
Wells, P. D. (1963). Mucin-secreting cells in rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis. Expl Parasit. 14, 15–22.Google Scholar