Authors: EvaMaria Laabs Thomas Schnieder Christina Strube
Publish Date: 2011/08/20
Volume: 110, Issue: 3, Pages: 1249-1259
Abstract
The bovine lungworm Dictyocaulus viviparus is one of the most important parasites in grazing cattle However not much is known about morphology and molecular aspects of sexual maturation occurring during development of preadult larvae L5 to adults Since studies in the pulmonary compartments are infeasible an in vitro cultivation method was established The study was conducted with L5 during in vitro cultivation assessing longitudinal growth and sexual maturation Best results were achieved with RPMI1640 medium with lglutamine 50 fetal bovine serum amphotericin B 025 mg/ml penicillin 10000 U/ml and streptomycin 10 mg/ml at 39°C and 5 atmospheric CO2 During cultivation individuals grew from an average length of 464 to 988 mm independent of their density per setup Regarding sexual maturation female individuals started to lay eggs whereas the testes of male individuals were filled with spermatozoa Consequently adult female and adult male worms developed However no copulation was observable and eggs did not embryonate Development was further investigated by quantitative realtime PCR transcriptional analysis of major sperm protein msp and vitellogenin vit representing male and female sexual development respectively Male msp transcription peaked after 5 days of cultivation corresponding to 20 days post infection dpi and decreased gradually afterwards Female vit transcription showed the highest rate after 15 days of cultivation 30 dpi however it never reached the transcription rate in female adults isolated from the host All in all the present study gives not only insights into morphological differentiation but provides data lightening molecular aspects of sexual maturation in D viviparus
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