Pc. Fan et al., EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES ON THE PATHWAY FOR MIGRATION AND THE DEVELOPMENTOF TAIWAN TAENIA IN DOMESTIC PIGS, International journal for parasitology, 26(1), 1996, pp. 45-48
The pig is the most favorable experimental intermediate host of Taiwan
Taenia. Cysticerci in infected pigs are located in the liver except f
or a few extrahepatic ones. The present study was designed to investig
ate the pathway of migration-of the oncospheres of Taiwan Taenia in th
e pig. In the first group, each of 5 Small-Ear-Miniature (SEM) and one
Landrace-Small-Ear-Miniature (L-SEM) pigs were injected with 5000 hat
ched oncospheres into the ear vein. Three SEM and one L-SEM pigs were
found to harbor 88 degenerated or calcified cysticerci only in the liv
er 51-81 days after injection. In the second group, each of 3 L-SEM pi
gs were injected with 5000 hatched oncospheres into the jugular vein.
One of the 3 pigs was found to have 5 cysticerci (2 mature and 3 degen
erated or calcified) only in the liver at 89 days post-injection. In t
he third group, each of 4 SEM, three L-SEM, and 3 L-SEM pigs were inje
cted with 10,000, 10,000, and 5000 hatched oncospheres, respectively,
directly into the portal vein after surgical opening of the abdominal
cavity. All 10 pigs were found to be infected with a total of 1088 cys
ticerci (44 mature and 1044 degenerated or calcified) only in the live
r 23-62 days after injection. Although the sites of injection in these
three groups were different, the liver was the only final location of
the cysticerci. These findings give strong evidence that the oncosphe
res migrate to the liver through the venous circulation and develop in
this organ.