Development of Taenia pisiformis in golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus)

Abstract

The life cycle of Taenia pisiformis includes canines as definitive hosts and rabbits as intermediate hosts. Golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) is a rodent that has been successfully used as experimental model of Taenia solium taeniosis. In the present study we describe the course of T. pisiformis infection in experimentally infected golden hamsters. Ten females, treated with methyl-prednisolone acetate were infected with three T. pisiformis cysticerci each one excised from one rabbit. Proglottids released in faeces and adults recovered during necropsy showed that all animals were infected. Eggs obtained from the hamsters' tapeworms, were assessed for viability using trypan blue or propidium iodide stains. Afterwards, some rabbits were inoculated with eggs, necropsy was performed after seven weeks and viable cysticerci were obtained. Our results demonstrate that the experimental model of adult Taenia pisiformis in golden hamster can replace the use of canines in order to study this parasite and to provide eggs and adult tapeworms to be used in different types of experiments.

A survey on intestinal parasites of golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus) in the northeast of Iran

“…Hamsters are used mainly in assays related to experimental infections (León-Cabrera et al 2010;Paciello et al 2010;Toral-Bastida et al 2011;Wold and Toth 2010), pathology (Songserm et al 2009), host-parasite relationships (Wonkchalee et al 2012), immune responses (Requena et al 2000), immunodiagnoses (Nonaka et al 1996), and drug therapies (Tritten et al 2011;Xiao et al 2011). In addition, pet shop hamsters were investigated as a comparative outside group, because little attention has been given to the possibility of acquiring parasitic infections from rodents obtained from commercial sources.…”

Recent advancements and new perspectives in animal models for Neurocysticercosis immunopathogenesis

“…However, they also studied immune response to rTsCRT in taeniosis only and not in NCC. Toral‐Bastida E et al., (2011) developed a taeniosis model by infecting hamster with T. pisiformis , which uses canines as a definitive host and rabbit as an intermediate host. The eggs obtained from infected hamsters successfully developed cysticerci in rabbits, thereby confirming the pathogenicity of these eggs.…”

Basic and applied problems in developmental biology and immunobiology of cestode infections: Hymenolepis,Taenia and Echinococcus

“…The mechanism of how H. nana switched from an indirect to a direct life cycle is still unknown. Researchers who have tried to obtain adult of Taeniid worms using an injectable corticosteroid in resistant animals have concluded that the corticosteroid acts as an immunosuppressive agent (88)(89)(90)(91)(92)(93). However, there is no tangible evidence of the mechanism.…”