title: Cultivation of excysted metacercariae of Echinostoma caproni (Trematoda) to ovigerous adults on the chick chorioallantois.
abstract: Excysted metacercariae of Echinostoma caproni were cultivated on the chick chorioallantoic membrane (CAM) maintained at 38.5 +/- 1 C and a relative humidity of 60-65%. Of 59 6-day-old embryos, each inoculated with 25 metacercariae, 29 (49.2%) were infected 2-12 days postinoculation. The total number of worms recovered from the infected eggs was 163 or 22.5% of the 725 inoculated metacercariae. Eggs contained from 1 to 12 (average 5.6) worms per CAM. Worm length increased rapidly from an average of 0.5 mm at 2 days to about 3.0 mm at 6 days postinoculation. Ovigerous worms first were seen on day 8 PI, but fluke eggs did not develop embryos. Worm development in ovo lagged about 1 day behind that of in vivo worms. One worm maintained for 17 days on 2 successive CAMs reached 6 mm in length, contained about 100 eggs in its uterus, and laid an additional 100 eggs on the CAM surface.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, Lafayette College, Easton, Pennsylvania 18042.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fried
authors.forename: L C
authors.initials: LC
authors.lastname: Rosa-Brunet
mesh_terms: D000482:Allantois / Q000469:parasitology*; D000818:Animals; D002642:Chick Embryo; D046508:Culture Techniques; D004449:Echinostoma / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008854:Microscopy, Electron