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Effects of a diet deficient in the B complex vitamins on infectivity, growth and distribution of Echinostoma caproni in ICR mice

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  12 April 2024

H.L. Simpkins
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA
B. Fried*
Affiliation:
Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042, USA
*
*Author for correspondence, Fax: +1 610 330 5705, E-mail: friedb@lafayette.edu

Abstract

The effects of a diet deficient in the B vitamins on infectivity, growth, and distribution of Echinostoma caproni in ICR mice were studied. The vitamin-deficient diet (experimental) was isocaloric to the control diet but lacked the B vitamins. Thirty-six female, 6- to 8-week-old ICR mice were each infected with 25 metacercarial cysts. From the day of infection to the day of necropsy, 18 mice were fed the experimental diet and the remaining mice received the control diet. Equal numbers of experimental and control mice were necropsied at 2, 3 and 4 weeks postinfection (p.i.). Mice on the experimental diet showed a significant loss in body weight between 2 and 4 weeks p.i. There was no significant difference in worm recovery at 2 to 4 weeks p.i. from mice on either diet. Worms from hosts on the experimental diet were more dispersed and located more posteriad in the small intestine than those from mice on the control diet. Worm dry weight was significantly less in hosts on the experimental diet at all weeks p.i. compared with that of hosts on the control diet. The body area of worms on the experimental diet was significantly less at 2 and 3 weeks p.i. than that of worms on the control diet. An isocaloric diet deficient in the B vitamins had a detrimental effect on the growth of E. caproni in ICR mice.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2001

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