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Infection and Immunity, April 2002, p. 1853-1859, Vol. 70, No. 4
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.4.1853-1859.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Molting, Ecdysis, and Reproduction of Trichinella spiralis Are Supported In Vitro by Intestinal Epithelial Cells

L. F. Gagliardo, C. S. McVay,^, and J. A. Appleton^*

James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health, Department of Microbiology and Immunology, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853

Received 3 December 2001/ Returned for modification 21 December 2001/ Accepted 27 December 2001

Trichinella spiralis is an obligate parasite of animals that has an unusual intracellular life cycle. Investigation of parasitism at the cellular and molecular levels has been challenging because of a shortage of tools for in vitro cultivation of T. spiralis. We have found that T. spiralis larvae molt, ecdyse, develop to adulthood, and reproduce when they are inoculated onto cultured intestinal epithelial cells. Initially, larvae invade and migrate through cells in a monolayer (T. ManWarren, L. Gagliardo, J. Geyer, C. McVay, S. Pearce-Kelling, and J. Appleton, Infect. Immun. 65:4806-4812, 1997). During prolonged culture in Caco-2 epithelial cells, L1 larvae molted and ecdysed with efficiencies as high as 50%. Molting and ecdysis in vitro required entry of the parasite into cells; conditions that prevented entry into cells also prevented ecdysis. When larvae were inoculated at a low density and cultured for 5 to 9 days, as many as 50% of the larvae developed to adult stages. Low numbers of mature male worms with copulatory appendages were observed in these cultures. The majority of worms that survived for five or more days were unfertilized females. Low-density cultures supported development of female worms with embryos at rates of 4 to 5%. These results show that the intestinal life cycle of T. spiralis can be supported entirely by host epithelial cells. Our model should allow more detailed investigation of intracellular parasitism by T. spiralis.

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* Corresponding author. Mailing address: James A. Baker Institute for Animal Health, College of Veterinary Medicine, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phone: (607) 256-5648. Fax: (607) 256-5608. E-mail: jaa2{at}cornell.edu.

Editor: W. A. Petri, Jr.

Present address: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, Lubbock, TX 79430

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Infection and Immunity, April 2002, p. 1853-1859, Vol. 70, No. 4
0019-9567/02/$04.00+0     DOI: 10.1128/IAI.70.4.1853-1859.2002
Copyright © 2002, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

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