Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T00:34:44.306Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Dose-dependent relationships between Nippostrongylus brasiliensis populations and rat food intake

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

K. S. Ovington
K. S. Ovington
Affiliation:
The Molteno institute, Department of Parasitology, Downing Street, Cambridge CB2 3EE
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The pattern of daily food intake of well-nourished rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis included 2 distinct phases when food intake was much less than that of uninfected controls (days 0–4 and days 6–10 p.1.). These phases were separated by a period (days 4–6) of still reduced but relatively constant food intake. From day 10 p.i. food intake increased so that between days 12 and 17 infected rats ate more than uninfected controls. In each of the phases of reduced food intake there was a threshold dose above which food intake was further decreased as dose increased. In contrast to the obvious relationship between food intake and dose, food intake could not easily be related to the size of the adult Nipposirongylus population, as judged by egg and worm counts. The relationship appears to be complicated by host variability in susceptibility to infection and to the pathological effects of infection. Effects of N. brasiliensis on the daily pattern of food intake can be explained with respect to stages in the development of the parasite and host responses directed against the adult worms.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 91 , Issue 1 , August 1985 , pp. 157 - 167
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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

Africa, C. M. (1931). Studies on the host relations of Nippostrongylus niuris with special reference to age resistance and acquired immunity. Journal of Parasitology 18, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bolin, T. D., Davis, A. E., Cummins, G. A., Duncombe, V. M. & Kelly, J. D. (1977). Effect of iron and protein deficiency on the expulsion of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis from the small intestine of the rat. Gut 18, 182–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Castro, G. A. (1981). Physiology of the gastrointestinal tract in the parasitized host. In Physiology of the Gastrointestinal Tract (ed. Johnson, L. R.), pp. 1381–406. New York: Raven Press.Google Scholar
Crompton, D. W. T.(1984). The influence of parasitic infection on food intake. Federation Proceedings 43, 239–45.Google ScholarPubMed
Crompton, D. W. T., Arnold, S., Coward, W. A. & Lunn, P. G. (1978). Nippostrongylus (Nematoda) infection in protein-malnourished rats. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 72, 195–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Crompton, D. W. T., Walters, D. E. & Arnold, S. (1981). Changes in the food intake and body weight of protein-malnourished rats infected with Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Nematoda). Parasitology 82, 23–38.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Haley, A. J. (1962). Biology of the rat nematode, Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Travassos, 1914). II. Preparasitic stages and development in the laboratory rat. Journal of Parasitology 48, 13–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jarrett, E. E. E., Jarrett, W. F. H. & Urquhart, G. M. (1968). Quantitative studies on the kinetics of establishment and expulsion of intestinal nematode populations in susceptible and immune hosts. Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in the rat. Parasitology 58, 625–39.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keymer, A. (1982). Density-dependent mechanisms in the regulation of intestinal helminth populations. Parasitology 84, 573–87.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keymer, A., Crompton, D. W. T. & Walters, D. E. (1983 a). Nippostrongylus (Nematoda) in protein-malnourished rats: host mortality, morbidity and rehabilitation. Parasitology 86, 461–75.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keymer, A., Martin, J. & Wainwright, S. M. (1983 b). Estimation of the numbers and infectivity of Nippostrongylus larvae. Journal of Helminlhology 57, 225–30.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Maff. (1971). Ministry of Agriculture. Fisheries and Food Technical Bulletin No. 18: Manual of Veterinary and Parasitological Laboratory Techniques, pp. 5–7. London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office.Google Scholar
Mccance, R. A. (1962). Food, growth and time. Lancet 2, 671–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ogilvie, B. M. & Jones, V. E. (1971). Nippostrongylus brasiliensis: a review of immunity and the host/parasite relationship in the rat. Experimental Parasitology 29, 138–77.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Symons, L. E. A. (1969). Pathology of gastrointestinal helminthiases. International Review of Tropical Medicine 3, 49–100.Google ScholarPubMed