The anatomy of the third-stage larva of Toxocara canis and Toxocara cati.

Abstract

This review describes the morphology and ultrastructure of the third-stage larva of Toxocara canis, the larval stage that hatches from the egg and persists in the tissues of various paratenic hosts including infected humans. This larva remains unchanged as it passes from host to host and lives for extended periods in this same body form until it makes its way to the gastro-intestinal tract of its final host. There has been less work on the anatomy and ultrastructure of the larva of Toxocara cati, but overall, it appears very similar to that of T. canis with the only apparent difference being that the larva is a few microns thinner in diameter. The paper describes the anatomy and ultrastructure of the larva and the various major structures of the various body systems including the cuticle, hypodermis, the nervous tissue, oesophagus and the lumen-free intestine, and the large excretory gland cell that fills much of the pseudocoel and which appears to be the source of the components that are recognized immunologically by the infected host. It is suggested that further detailed studies on the larva could provide significant information that would allow a greater understanding of how the larva persists within these hosts and may provide information that would make the larva an excellent link to work on nematode anatomy that would link the work being done with this model system to that of Caenorhabditis elegans and the large amount of historical work already performed on adult ascaridoid nematodes.