The three-spined stickleback-Schistocephalus solidus system: an experimental model for investigating host-parasite interactions in fish

Plerocercoids of the pseudophyllidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus infect the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, with important consequences for the biology of host fish. Techniques for culturing the parasite in vitro and generating infective stages that can be used to infect stickl...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Parasitology 2010-03, Vol.137 (3), p.411-424
Main Authors: BARBER, I., SCHARSACK, J. P.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animals
behaviour
Brackish
Cestoda
Cestoda - physiology
Cestode Infections - parasitology
Cestode Infections - veterinary
Fish Diseases - parasitology
Fish parasites
fitness
Freshwater
Gasterosteus aculeatus
growth
Host-Parasite Interactions
immunology
laboratory model
Life Cycle Stages
Ligula intestinalis
Marine
Pseudophyllidea
Schistocephalus solidus
Smegmamorpha - parasitology
Three-spined stickleback
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Summary:Plerocercoids of the pseudophyllidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus infect the three-spined stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, with important consequences for the biology of host fish. Techniques for culturing the parasite in vitro and generating infective stages that can be used to infect sticklebacks experimentally have been developed, and the system is increasingly used as a laboratory model for investigating aspects of host-parasite interactions. Recent experimental laboratory studies have focused on the immune responses of hosts to infection, the consequences of infection for the growth and reproductive development of host fish and the effects of infection on host behaviour. Here we introduce the host and the parasite, review the major findings of these recent experimental infection studies and identify further aspects of host parasite interactions that might be investigated using the system.
ISSN:0031-1820
1469-8161
DOI:10.1017/S0031182009991466