Xth ICT, August 2000

The detection of encapsulated and non-encapsulated species of Trichinella suggests the existence of two evolutive lines in the genus

¹ Laboratory of Parasitology, Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy
² USDA, ARS, LPSI, Immunology and Disease Resistance Laboratory, Beltsville, MA 20705, Italy

^* Correspondence : Istituto Superiore di Sanità, viale Regina Elena 299, 00161 Rome, Italy. Tel. : +390649902304 - Fax : +390649387065 E-mail : pozio@iss.it

Abstract

In recent years, the discovery of many non-encapsulated isolates of Trichinella, designated Trichinella pseudospiralis and the identification of a new non-encapsulated species, Trichinella papuae, has revealed that the biomass of the genus Trichinella does not only include the well known encapsulated species (T. spiralis, T. nativa, T. britovi, T. murrelli, and T. nelsoni) but also includes geographically disseminated, non-encapsulated species that represent important biological entities in the genus. Larvae of the first stage (L1) of both non-encapsulated and encapsulated species are able to penetrate the muscle cell and induce a dedifferentiation of this cell. But following this point in the parenteral cycle, non-encapsulated and encapsulated species diverge with respect to their developmental strategies where L1 of encapsulated species are able to induce the nurse cell to synthesize collagen, unlike non-encapsulated larvae which do not induce collagen production. The presence or absence of a collagen capsule is of great importance in the natural cycle of these parasites in that it allows the encapsulated larva to survive to substantially longer periods of time and therefore remain infective even within putrefied muscle tissue.