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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
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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

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