Neurocysticercosis is a public health problem in many developing countries and is the most frequent parasitic disease of the brain. The human tapeworm carrier is the main risk factor for acquiring neurocysticercosis. Since the parasite lodges only in the human intestine, experimental models of Taenia solium taeniosis have been explored. Macaques, pigs, dogs, cats and rabbits are unsuccessful hosts even in immunodepressed status. By contrast, rodents are adequate hosts since tapeworms with mature, pregravid and, in some cases, gravid proglottids develop after infection. In this review, information that has been generated with experimental models of taeniosis due to T. solium is discussed. Initially, the use of the model for immunodiagnosis of human taeniosis and evaluation of intervention measures is summarized. Next, descriptions of tapeworms and comparison of hamsters, gerbils and other mammals as experimental models are discussed, as well as data on the humoral immune response, the inflammatory reaction and the production of cytokines associated to Th1 and Th2 responses in the intestinal mucosa. Finally, evaluation of protection induced against the development of tapeworms by recombinant T. solium calreticulin in hamsters is summarized and compared to other studies.

The host–parasite relationship in taeniosis due to Taenia solium is practically unknown. Monoclonal antibodies were prepared against whole extracts of adult T. solium parasites and evaluated with tapeworms recovered from experimentally infected hamsters and with cysticerci from naturally infected pigs. With one antibody, mAb 4B3, it was possible to identify, purify and partially characterize a T. solium myosin. Some findings indicate that it corresponds to conventional myosin or myosin type II such as: purification with KCl, high molecular weight, size, structure (dimeric protein with globular and long tail portions), reaction with commercial anti-myosin antibodies, distribution in muscle fibres of parasites and cross-reactivity with antibodies against paramyosin from T. solium cysticerci. The reaction of the mAb was only with taeniids and not with other parasites. Also myosin was detected in faeces of infected animals and in supernatants of parasite cultures. Its presence in biological fluids may be useful for diagnosis of infected hosts.