Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-ndw9j Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-18T12:15:33.370Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The effect of temperature on the survival and infectivity of the free-living larvae of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

O. Hindsbo
Affiliation:
Zoological Laboratory, Department of Parasitology, University of Copenhagen, Universitetsparken 15, DK-2100, Denmark

Summary

The development, survival and infectivity of larvae of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis at 10 and 21 °C have been studied. In cultures developed for 1 weekat21 °C but stored at either 10 or 21 °C the mean recovery of larvae in 1·5 h Baermann sediment (46% and 42% of total eggs, respectively) and their infectivity (66% and 70% day 8 p.i. recovery, respectively) at 4 weeks of cultivation were similar. However, at 20 weeks of cultivation only a few larvae survived storage at 21 °C (1·4%) and the survivors showed very low infectivity (4·1%), whereas larvae stored at 10 °C retained most of their survival and infectivity rates (41% and 44%, respectively). In cultures developed and stored at 10 °C a lower mean proportion (17%) of the eggs was recovered as larvae at 4 weeks of cultivation. The mean infectivity rate of these larvae increased from 4 to 12 weeks of cultivation (18 % and 42 %, respectively) but was reduced at 20 weeks of cultivation (27 %). An increased proportion of adult female worms was recovered from rats infected with larvae from cultures showing poor development or survival and the fecundity of the adult females decreased in all groups as the storage time of the cultures was increased. Eggs from low fecundity adult worms showed normal development of larvae. The relation between survival, temperature in the habitat and the geographical distribution of the larvae of N. brasiliensis is discussed.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1983

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

Africa, C. M. (1931). Studies on the activity of infective larvae of the rat strongylid, Nippostrongylus muris. Journal of Parasitology 17, 196206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barakat, M. R. (1951). A new procedure for the cultivation of the nematode parasites. Journal of the Egyptian Medical Association 34, 323–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Barrett, J. (1968). Lipids of the infective and parasitic stages of some nematodes. Nature, London 218, 1267–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Brambell, M. R. (1965). The distribution of a primary infestation of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in the small intestine of laboratory rats. Parasitology 55, 313–24.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Connan, R. M. (1970). The effect of host lactation on the self-cure of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in rats. Parasitology 61, 2733.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haley, A. J. (1958). Host specificity of the rat nematode Nippostrongylus muris. American Journal of Hygiene 67, 331–49.Google ScholarPubMed
Haley, A. J. (1961). Biology of the rat nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Travassos, 1914). I. Systematics, hosts and geographic distribution. Journal of Parasitology 47, 727–32.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, 1323.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haley, A. J. & Clifford, C. M. (1960). Age and infectivity of the filariform larvae of the rat nematode Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Travassos, 1914). Journal of Parasitology 46, 579–82.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hindsbo, O. (1973). Distribution of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis in the small intestine of reinfected and cortisone treated rats in relation to a primary infection. Norwegian Journal of Zoology 21, 328.Google 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
Jenkins, D. C. (1974). Nippostrongylus brasiliensis: the distribution of primary worm populations within the small intestine of neonatal rats. Parasitology 68, 339–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Keeling, J. E. D. (1960). The effects of ultra-violet radiation on Nippostrongylus muris. I.–Irradiation of infective larvae: Lethal and sublethal effects. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 54, 182–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Leigh, L. C. (1956). Methods for the culture and collection of Nippostrongylus muris. Journal of the Institute of Science Technology 2, 21–3.Google Scholar
Lengy, J. & Wertheim, G. (1963). The incidence of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis (Travassos, 1914) in a localized population of Rattus norvegicus. Israel Journal of Zoology 12, 93–6.Google Scholar
Miller, T. A. (1978). Industrial development and field use of the canine hookworm vaccine. Advances in Parasitology 16, 333–2.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Siegel, S. (1956). Nonparametric Statistics for the Behavioral Sciences. McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Snedecor, G. W. & Cochran, W. G. (1967). Statistical Methods. 6th Ed.Iowa State University Press.Google Scholar
Yokogawa, S. (1922). The development of Heligmosomum muris Yokogawa, a nematode from the intestine of the wild rat. Parasitology 14, 127–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar