The Molting Pattern in Trichinella spiralis. I. A Light Microscope Study

Development of Trichinella spiralis in rats was studied in detail to determine where and how many times the larvae molt. Four molts were observed during the intestinal phase of development, none earlier. In synchronously developing populations obtained by injecting excysted larvae directly into the...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Journal of parasitology 1971-10, Vol.57 (5), p.1015-1028
Main Author: Kozek, Wieslaw J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal cuticle
Animals
Appendages
Female
Female animals
Infections
Intestines - pathology
Larva - anatomy & histology
Larva - growth & development
Larvae
Larval development
Male
Male animals
Mating behavior
Metamorphosis, Biological
Molting
Morphogenesis
Muscle larvae
Muscles - pathology
Rats
Rats, Inbred Strains
Time Factors
Trichinella - anatomy & histology
Trichinella - growth & development
Trichinellosis - pathology
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Summary:Development of Trichinella spiralis in rats was studied in detail to determine where and how many times the larvae molt. Four molts were observed during the intestinal phase of development, none earlier. In synchronously developing populations obtained by injecting excysted larvae directly into the duodenum, male worms molted at approximately 9, 13, 18, and 25 hr, females at approximately 10, 15, 21, and 28 hr, and inseminated females were first observed at 30 hr after inoculation. Each successive larval stage could be recognized by the thickness of the cast cuticle and the presence or absence of copulatory appendages, tuberculate papillae, and sperm in the male, and by the state of development of the vagina and uterus and the thickness and cross striations of the cuticle in the female. The development of T. spiralis can be divided into two periods, one in the tissues where, although there is no molt, the level of sexual differentiation reaches that of the fourth or early fifth-stage larva of phasmid nematodes, the other in the intestine where there are 5 stages, separated by 4 successive molts. The high level of sexual differentiation reached in the tissue phase of development together with the rapid succession of molts occurring in the intestine renders the Trichinella life cycle atypical among the trichuroids.
ISSN:0022-3395
1937-2345
DOI:10.2307/3277858