Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-xxrs7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-28T14:43:28.868Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Delayed tail loss during the invasion of mouse skin by cercariae of Schistosoma japonicum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2011

TING WANG
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
ZHENG-MING FANG
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
JIA-HUI LEI
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
FEI GUAN
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
WEN-QI LIU
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
ANN BARTLETT
Affiliation:
School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK
PHIL WHITFIELD
Affiliation:
School of Biomedical & Health Sciences, Pharmaceutical Sciences Division, King's College London, 150 Stamford Street, London SE1 9NN, UK
YONG-LONG LI*
Affiliation:
Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China
*
*Corresponding author: Department of Parasitology, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, 13 Hangkong Road, Wuhan 430030, China. Tel: +86 27 83657670. E-mail: lylongtj@163.com

Summary

A traditional assumption is that schistosome cercariae lose their tails at the onset of penetration. It has, however, recently been demonstrated that, for Schistosoma mansoni, cercarial tails were not invariably being shed as penetration took place and a high proportion of tails entered human skin under experimental conditions. This phenomenon was termed delayed tail loss (DTL). In this paper, we report that DTL also happens with S. japonicum cercariae during penetration of mouse skin. It occurred at all cercarial densities tested, from as few as 10 cercariae/2·25 cm2 of mouse skin up to 200 cercariae. Furthermore, it was demonstrated that there was a density-dependent increase in DTL as cercarial densities increased. No such density-dependent enhancement was shown for percentage attachment over the same cercarial density range.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2011

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

REFERENCES

Brown, M. B., Marriott, C. and Martin, G. P. (1995). The effect of hyaluronan on the in vitro deposition of diclofenac within the skin. International Journal of Tissue Reactions 17, 133140.Google ScholarPubMed
Bartlett, A., Brown, M., Marriott, C. and Whitfield, P. J. (2000). The infection of human skin by schistosome cercariae: studies using Franz cells. Parasitology 121, 4954.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gordon, R. M. and Griffiths, R. B. (1951). Observations on the means by which the cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni penetrate mammalian skin, together with an account of certain morphological changes observed in the newly penetrated larvae. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 45, 227243.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Griffiths, R. B. (1953). Further observations on the penetration of mammalian skin by the cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni, with special reference to the effects of mass invasion. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 47, 8694.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haas, W., and Haeberlein, S. (2009). Penetration of cercariae into the living human skin: Schistosoma mansoni vs. Trichobilharzia szidati. Parasitology Research 105, 10611066.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
He, Y. X. (2005). Bernard Salafsky and Kalyanasundaram Ramaswamy. Comparison of skin invasion among three major species of Schistosoma. Trends in Parasitology 21, 201203.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ingram, R. J., Bartlett, A., Brown, M. B., Marriott, C. and Whitfield, P. J. (2003). Penetration of human skin by the cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni: an investigation of the effect of multiple cercarial applications. Journal of Helminthology 77, 2731.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Ruppel, A., Katerina, Chlichlia and Mahmoud, Bahgat. (2004). Invasion by schistosome cercariae: neglected aspects in Schistosoma japonicum. Trends in Parasitology 20, 397400.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Standen, O. D. (1953). The penetration of the cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni into the skin and lymphatics of the mouse. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 47, 42924294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Whitfield, P. J., Bartlett, A., Khammo, N., Brain, A. P. R., Brown, M. B., Marriott, C. and Clothier, R. (2003). Delayed tail loss during the invasion of human skin by schistosome cercariae. Parasitology 126, 135140.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wu, G. L. and Liu, W. Q. (2005). Biology of schistosomes. In Human Parasitology (ed. Wu, G. L.), pp. 333338. People's Health Publishing House, Beijing, China.Google Scholar