title: Diet texture modifies outcome of a primary infection with Heligmosomoides polygyrus (nematoda) in mice.
abstract: To determine if dietary texture altered the establishment, survival and reproduction of Heligmosomoides polygyrus during a primary infection, commercial mouse chow (Purina Chow) was fed in either pelleted or powdered form to 2 groups of infected BALB/c mice, and a semipurified, biotin-fortified, egg-white-based diet was provided in powdered form to a third group of mice. Diet texture (powdered vs. pelleted) modified parasite establishment, as evidenced by higher worm recovery 6 days postinfection (PI) in both groups of mice fed powdered diets compared with the group fed the pelleted diet, but diet texture had no detectable effect on net or per capita egg production or on day 30 worm survival. However, almost twice as many worms were recovered from mice fed the semipurified, powdered diet than those fed either textural formulation of the commercial mouse chow on day 30 PI, indicating that a dietary component in the semipurified diet, such as the single fiber source cellulose, facilitated parasite survival, or that other ingredients in the commercial mouse chow, perhaps the more complex fiber components, reduced worm survival, or both. We conclude that dietary texture influences parasite establishment and that specific fibers that change texture can individually and independently modify H. polygyrus survival.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Parasitology, Macdonald Campus of McGill University, Québec, Canada.
authors.forename: M E
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Scott
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Jalili
authors.forename: K G
authors.initials: KG
authors.lastname: Koski
mesh_terms: D000821:Animal Feed; D000818:Animals; D004043:Dietary Fiber; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D009351:Nematospiroides dubius; D017206:Strongylida Infections / Q000635:transmission*