Abstract
This chapter focuses on the influence of some phloroglucinol derivatives on eggs and coracidia of Diphyllobothrium latum. Fern extracts contain several phloroglucinol derivatives with anthelmintic effect. One of these, desaspidin, was found to be toxic to eggs and free-living larvae of the fish tapeworm Diphyllobothrium latum. 0–30% of the eggs isolated from worms expelled with desaspidin or eggs exposed in vitro to this substance hatched normally. The hatching percentage of eggs from worms expelled with fern extract was 80–95. Further studies showed that the inhibition of the onchospheres was roughly proportional to the concentrations of desaspidin to which the eggs had been exposed. Aspidin and flavaspidic acid seem to have a similar but somewhat weaker effect. It may be possible to use the inhibitory effect on developing D. latum eggs to standardize anthelmintic phloroglucinols. In water containing 100 μg or more of desaspidin, aspidin, or flavaspidic acid per ml, free-living coracidia was killed very quickly, whereas smaller amounts had no obvious effect.
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