| The response of the small intestine of rats to 5 and 50 cysticercoid infections of Hymenolepis diminuta was analyzed and compared to age matched uninfected rats. While most of the worms were expelled in a 50 cysticercoid infection at approximately 30 days postinfection (d.p.i.), the worms in the 5 cysticercoid infection remained up to at least 60 d.p.i. Uninfected rats and rats infected with H. diminuta were sacrificed at 8–10 day increments over the course of 60 d.p.i. Cross-sections of rat intestine were stained in Eosin Y and Giemsa, to show mast cells, goblet cells, and eosinophils. Increases in villus height and crypt depth were evident in infected rats, and were associated with increases in the cross-sectional area of the lamina propria at 30 d.p.i. However, these increases did not display a significant role in the expulsion of worms in the 50 cysticercoid infection. Mucosal mast cells (MMCs) and eosinophil cell numbers were analysed per villus crypt unit (VCU) and per volume of lamina propria. (Abstract shortened by UMI.)... |
