Effects of low temperatures on larvae of the genus Trichinella
Hulínská, D.; Figallová, V.; Shaikenov, B.
Folia Parasitologica 32(3): 211-216
1985
ISSN/ISBN: 0015-5683 PMID: 2931334 Document Number: 266132
Four pairs of mice were infected each with 200 larvae of T. spiralis, T. nelsoni, T. pseudospiralis or T. nativa and killed 30 days later. Their diaphragms were stored at - 25 degrees C for 8 days, when one of each pair was digested and the other prepared for histochemical and electron-microscope studies. Unfrozen diaphragms from 4 mice infected each with one of the species of Trichinella served as controls. No live larvae of T. pseudospiralis and T. nelsoni were recovered from frozen diaphragms. The degenerating sarcoplasm showed ultrastructural and histochemical changes not observed in the control diaphragms. Some of the muscle fibres around T. nativa and, in some cases, around T. spiralis had retained a structure similar to that in controls. A few motile T. nativa larvae were obtained by digestion. It is argued that the formation of ice crystals and protein denaturation prevented the survival of the larvae. The presence of a large number of membranous bodies, similar to the spheromembranous bodies induced in muscle fibres by poisons (e.g colchicine), were observed in the frozen diaphragms.