The host-parasite relationships in pyridoxine (vitamin B6) deficient cotton rats infected with Litomosoides carinii (Nematoda: Filaroidea).
This paper demonstrates that the establishment and growth of the filarial nematode parasite, Litomosoides carinii, is reduced in pyridoxine-deficient cotton rats. Young cotton rats were assigned to one of three dietary: vitamin B6-deficient cotton rats (B6-AL) were fed a pyridoxine-free diet ad libitum; pair-fed controls (B6 + PF) were fed the same amount of pyridoxine-free diet as animals in the deficient group and given daily oral supplements of 100 micrograms pyridoxine; and pyridoxine-sufficient controls (B6 + AL) were fed the pyridoxine-free diet ad libitum and supplemented daily with 100 micrograms pyridoxine. Half of each group was infected with 50 L3 of L. carinii by subcutaneous injection 8 weeks after the start of the experimental feeding period. B6-deficient cotton rats ate less (P < 0.001) and gained less weight (P < 0.001) than B6-supplemented controls. The levels of microfilaraemia in deficient animals, measured weekly throughout the experiment by taking blood smears, was significantly lower than in supplemented animals (P < 0.001). The deficient rats became latent for L. carinii at 20 weeks post-infection, whereas there was patent microfilaraemia in rats in the other dietary groups until the end of the experiment. Smaller (P < 0.001) and fewer (P < 0.05) adult worms were recovered from the pleural and abdominal cavities of deficient animals than from either pair-fed or sufficient controls at autopsy 28 week post-infection.
Beg
M A
MA
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Salford, UK.
Fistein
J L
JL
Storey
D M
DM
D000818:Animals; D004435:Eating; D005260:Female; D005368:Filariasis / Q000469:parasitology* / Q000503:physiopathology; D005370:Filarioidea / Q000502:physiology*; D006790:Host-Parasite Interactions; D008297:Male; D016205:Sigmodontinae / Q000469:parasitology*; D026681:Vitamin B 6 Deficiency / Q000469:parasitology*; D015430:Weight Gain