Search

Rediae of Paramphistomum daubneyi were counted and measured in Lymnaea truncatula to elucidate the variability in the numbers of free rediae and cercariae occurring between naturally infected snails and experimental single-miracidium infections. Experiments were performed using one miracidium per snail and snail raising was carried out at 20 degrees C. Two redial generations succeeded each other in the snail until day 49. A mean of 8-10 rediae differentiated in the sporocyst at days 7 and 14; the remaining germ balls and redial embryos decreased in number after day 21. First-generation rediae became free in the snail's body starting at day 14 and their number increased to a mean of 7.5 at day 49, with a maximum of 10 rediae being detected in 1 snail. They produced second-generation rediae, which exited from the body starting at day 28, and then cercariae, which exited from day 42 onward. The count of second-generation rediae was 6-6.2/snail at day 49, with a maximum of 12 being detected in 1 snail; they produced only cercariae.

Experimental infections of Galba truncatula with Fasciola hepatica were carried out under laboratory conditions to determine why the use of Tetraphyll, when provided every 3 days as food for snails, stimulated the intensity of cercarial shedding. In snails raised on cos lettuce and Tetraphyll, the number of metacercariae was significantly higher than that recorded in controls on lettuce only. In the former group, numerous metacercariae were counted on day 1 of every 3-day period (when snails fed on Tetraphyll), while the numbers of these larvae strongly decreased on day 2 and were very low on day 3. The repetition of this experiment using microalgae or modified Boray's diet every 3 days as food for snails gave the same results. However, the number of metacercariae recorded on day 1 of every 3-day period was significantly higher in snails raised on lettuce and Tetraphyll than in those reared on lettuce and algae (or Boray's diet). According to the authors, the first contact of an infected snail with Tetraphyll induces a faster differentiation of cercariae within the rediae and the accumulation of many free cercariae in the snail's hemocoel, so that a second contact of the snail with this food 3 days after allows free cercariae to complete their glycogen and fat reserves and to rapidly exit from the snail. However, a temporary immobilization of the infected snail by Tetraphyll, or rather its degradation products, and a massed exit of cercariae cannot be excluded.