Number Of Rediae Research Articles

Reproduction and caste ratios under stress in trematode colonies with a division of labour

Trematodes form clonal colonies in their first intermediate host. Individuals are, depending on species, rediae or sporocysts (which asexually reproduce) and cercariae (which develop within rediae or sporocysts and infect the next host). Some species use a division of labour within colonies, with 2 distinct redial morphs: small rediae (non-reproducing) and large rediae (individuals which produce cercariae). The theory of optimal caste ratio predicts that the ratio of caste members (small to large rediae) responds to environmental variability. This was tested in Philophthalmus sp. colonies exposed to host starvation and competition with the trematode, Maritrema novaezealandensis. Philophthalmus sp. infected snails, with and without M. novaezealandensis, were subjected to food treatments. Reproductive output, number of rediae, and the ratio of small to large rediae were compared among treatments. Philophthalmus sp. colonies responded to host starvation and competition; reproductive output was higher in well-fed snails of both infection types compared with snails in lower food treatments and well-fed, single infected snails compared with well-fed double infected snails. Furthermore, the caste ratio in Philophthalmus sp. colonies was altered in response to competition. This is the first study showing caste ratio responses to environmental pressures in trematodes with a division of labour.

The redial and cercarial production of a Digenean in the snail host is lower when no cercarial shedding occurs

Single- and double-miracidium exposures of Galba truncatula with Fasciola hepatica (two groups) or with Paramphistomum daubneyi (two groups) were carried out under laboratory conditions to compare parasite production in cercaria-shedding snails (CS snails) with that found in snails without emission (NCS snails). Free rediae and cercariae were thus counted in snails from both categories after their dissection at regular intervals (at 24 degrees C). In the four groups, the numbers of free rediae and free cercariae found at day 75 post-exposure (F. hepatica) or at day 85 (P. daubneyi) were significantly greater in CS snails than in NCS ones. The number of cercariae in NCS subgroups did not show any significant variation from day 45 p.e. to day 75 (F. hepatica, the two groups) or from day 55 to day 85 (P. daubneyi, single-miracidium infections), while it significantly decreased with increasing time of infection in the double-miracidium infections with P. daubneyi. In NCS snails, the presence of too numerous free cercariae within the snail's body (the volume of the body allows development only of a given number of rediae) might rapidly block out redial development and intraredial differentiation of other cercariae. The numerical diminution of P. daubneyi cercariae in the NCS snails (double-miracidium group) might probably be due to the lysis of new cercariae just formed, probably in reason of a lack of nutrients available for these larvae within the snail.

Fasciola hepatica: an unusual case of adaptation to a Moroccan population of Galba truncatula

Parent snails, F1, and F2, originating from a Moroccan population of Galba truncatula, were experimentally subjected to sympatric miracidia of Fasciola hepatica at 20 degrees C to determine the mode of adaptation of this parasite to the local intermediate host via the study of redial burdens and by following cercarial shedding. In spite of an increase in the global prevalences of infections, the frequencies recorded for immature or mature infections in dissected snails did not show any significant variations from parents to F2. If the redial burdens in mature infections were mainly composed of first-generation rediae in parent snails, the numbers of rediae belonging to subsequent generations significantly increased in the F1 and F2 generations. In mature infections, the lengths of first-generation rediae and their contents significantly decreased from parent snails to F2. Conversely, in the first redial cohort of the second generation (R2a rediae), only the intraredial contents increased significantly with snail generation. In mature infections, daughter redia production was ensured by all mother rediae of the first generation in parent snails, whereas it was progressively effected by the first mother redia in the F1 and F2 infections. The numbers of cercariae shed by snails increased significantly from parents to F2. If the cercariae produced by first-generation rediae decreased with snail generation, an inverse finding was noted in the case of R2a rediae. We suggest that snails impose a bottleneck on the development of the first mother redia, so that other mother rediae of the first generation react with greater growth (until 3.9 mm in parent snails), an important daughter redia production and a high cercarial production. As the first mother redia remained alive until day 49 post-exposure but without growth after week 2, this mode of development must be considered as a new developmental pattern of redial generations, and it is useful to determine its frequency in snails, as it has never been found in naturally or experimentally infected snails in central France.

Redial growth and cercarial productivity of Fasciola hepatica in three species of young lymnaeid snails.

Experimental infections of 1-mm high snails using three populations of Lymnaea (L. glabra, L. ovata and L. truncatula) and a cattle strain of Fasciola hepatica miracidia were carried out under laboratory conditions to determine if the snail species had an effect on the number of free rediae, their growth, and cercarial productivity in relation to each redial category (R1a, R1b, R2a, or R2b/R3a). The total number of rediae ranged from 6.4 to 7.5 per snail. The mean body length of rediae varied from 1-1.2 mm (R1a) to 0.3-0.4 mm (R2b/R3a). The width of the intrapharyngeal lumen also varied from 26.0-38.8 microm to 3.0-4.2 microm, respectively. The redial category had a significant effect on both measurements, whereas snail species only had a significant influence on body length. The mean number of cercariae produced by all living rediae at day 49 post-exposure ranged from 63.0 in L. glabra to 87.2 in L. truncatula. In L. ovata and L. truncatula, 55.8% and 58.6% of cercariae, respectively, were produced by R2a rediae, whereas 53.9% of cercariae in L. glabra were formed by the R1b rediae. When young snails were infected with F. hepatica, the species of snail had an effect on the number of living rediae, their length and their cercarial productivity.

Larval development of Fasciola hepatica in experimental infections: variations with populations of Lymnaea truncatula.

A retrospective study was undertaken on 70 French populations of Lymnaea truncatula experimentally infected with Fasciola hepatica to determine whether or not susceptibility of snails to infection influenced redial and cercarial production. Results were compared with those obtained from two control populations, known for prevalences higher than 60% when experimentally infected with F. hepatica. In the 70 other populations examined, the prevalences ranged from 2 to 75%. In 55 of these populations, where the prevalence was more than 20%, a high proportion (50.1-56.8%) of snails died after cercarial shedding, whereas in the other groups (non-shedding snails with the most differentiated larvae being free cercariae, rediae containing cercariae, immature rediae, or sporocysts, respectively), snail death was significantly less. In 11 populations, where the prevalence values were 5-19%, only 14% of snails died after cercarial shedding, whereas snails with free cercariae, rediae with cercariae, or immature rediae showed significant increases in snail mortality. In the remaining four snail populations, with prevalences of less than 5%, the most differentiated larval forms were only immature rediae and/or sporocysts. Overall, the number of rediae containing cercariae significantly decreased with decreasing prevalence values. The low prevalence of experimental infection in several populations of snails might be explained by the occurrence of natural infections with miracidia originating from a mammalian host other than cattle, and/or by genetic variability in the susceptibility of snails to infection.

Fasciola gigantica: the growth and larval productivity of redial generations in the snail Lymnaea truncatula.

Bimiracidial infections of French Lymnaea truncatula with a Madagascan isolate of Fasciola gigantica were carried out under laboratory conditions to study the growth of rediae and their larval productivity in relation to the different redial generations. The total numbers of rediae and their mean lengths significantly increased with the duration of infection until day 49 post-exposure (p.e.). Significant differences in the lengths between the different redial generations were noted. At day 49 p.e. (at 20 degrees C), the cercariae were produced by the first redial generation, while the productivity of other redial groups was delayed. This last finding shows a slow larval development of this Madagascan isolate of F. gigantica in this French population of L. truncatula.

Comparative studies on the productivity ofFasciola gigantica andF. hepatica sporocysts inLymnaea tomentosa that died after a cercarial shedding or without emission

A histology study was performed on Fasciola gigantica- or F. hepatica-infected Lymnaea tomentosa that died after a cercarial shedding or without emission to compare the parasite productivity of each trematode. Degenerated rediae increased in number throughout the experiment. Their number rose rapidly after day 79 in snails that died after shedding in the F. gigantica group; they increased more slowly in snails that died without shedding. In the F. hepatica group the number rose after day 63 in the former snails and after day 79 in the latter. The contents of normal rediae evolved inversely. The number of morulae, for example, dropped rapidly after day 79 in the F. gigantica group. In the F. hepatica group it dropped after day 63 in snails that died after shedding and decreased after day 79 in the other dead snails. Free and degenerated cercariae were more numerous in snails that died without emission than in those that died at shedding. They rapidly increased in number after day 77. The numbers of rediae of F. gigantica were substantially greater than those of F. hepatica. In each group considered separately, it was likewise higher in snails that died without shedding than in those that died after the shedding of cercariae.

Cercarial shedding of Echinostoma cinetorchis and experimental infection of the cercariae to several kinds of snails

The development of Echinostoma cinetorchis in several snail species reared in laboratory aquaria was observed. The eggs from adult flukes collected from the intestine of rats were cultivated to miracidia, and exposed to Hippeutis sp. snails. Observations were made for cercarial shedding from the exposed snails. The cercariae shed from the snails were again exposed to several species of fresh water snails in order to observe metacercarial formation in the snails and their infectivity to final hosts. The results obtained in this study were as follows: 1. Twenty miracidia were exposed to each snail of Hippeutis sp. About 58.3% of the above snails (7 out of 12) were dead before shedding the cercariae, and the remainder shed the cercariae for a period of 7 to 9 days before death. 2. Cercarial shedding from the infected snails started from the 25th day after the exposure to miracidia, and the total number of cercariae shed per snail was 684 in average (range; 482-904). 3. The size of rediae developed in the infected Hippeutis sp. snails was 1,242 x 214 microns in average, and the number of rediae per snail was 350 in average (range; 120-510). 4. About 40 to 50 cercariae shed from the Hippeutis sp. snails were each exposed to several species of snails reared in the laboratory. The metacercarial formation was confirmed by dissecting the infected snails, 12 to 16 days after the infection.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Experimental and epidemiological studies on the life cycle of Echinostoma hortense Asada, 1926 (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae)

Experimental and epidemiological studies on the life cycle of Echinostoma hortense Asada, 1926 (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae)

The redial population of Paryphostomum segregatum (Trematoda: Echinostomatidae) in the snail Biomphalaria glabrata.

Redial populations of Paryphostomum segregatum were examined in Biomphalaria glabrata. In mature infections the number of rediae was proportional to the size of the snail host. The maximum size of the redial population in snails of similar size remained approximately the same whether the snails were exposed to 1, 10 or 100 miracidia each.

Diplodiscus species parasitic in the snail Paludina vivipara Lm.

WHILE engaged in researches on larval trematodes in The Netherlands, I collected specimens of the snail Paludina vivipara Lm. from a dried-up waterway in the vicinity of Houten (Province of Utrecht). In the course of routine examination, no cercariae having been given off by the snails under laboratory conditions, they were dissected and large numbers of rediae found which proved, by their structure and measurements, to be the larval stage of an amphistome. This is in itself unusual as P. vivipara is not recorded as acting as intermediate host for this group of trematodes.

Snail Hosts ofFasciola hepaticain Britain

1. This paper presents experimental evidence to show thatLimnaea truncatulais not the only British snail susceptible to infection with Fasciolahepatica.2. Of the six British species ofLimnaea, five may be infected under laboratory conditions, L.auriculariaproving resistant to infection. Full development of the parasite occurs inL. truncatula, L. slagnalis, L. palustris and L. glabra, while development as far as the production of rediae occurred on one occasion inL. pereger. Of the susceptible speciesL. truncatulamay be infected at any age or size, but the other species are susceptible only during the first few days after hatching.3.F. hepaticaappeared to be relatively pathogenic to hosts other thanL. truncatulaeven though the level of infection (as evidenced by the number of rediae which developed) was considerably lower than in the more usual host.