Institute for Immunology, Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
Dynamic and Functional in vivo Imaging, Veterinary Medicine, Freie Universität Berlin, Berlin, Germany.
J R Soc Interface. 2024 Oct;21(219):20240327. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2024.0327. Epub 2024 Oct 9.
Intestinal parasitic worms are widespread throughout the world, causing chronic infections in humans and animals. However, very little is known about the locomotion of the worms in the host gut. We studied the movement of naturally infecting mice, and used as an animal model for roundworm infections. We investigated the locomotion of in simplified environments mimicking key physical features of the intestinal lumen, i.e. medium viscosity and intestinal villi topology. We found that the motion sequence of these nematodes is non-periodic, but the migration could be described by transient anomalous diffusion. Aggregation as a result of biased, enhanced-diffusive locomotion of nematodes in sex-mixed groups was detected. This locomotion is probably stimulated by mating and reproduction, while single nematodes move randomly (diffusive). Natural physical obstacles such as high mucus-like viscosity or villi topology slowed down but did not entirely prevent nematode aggregation. Additionally, the mean displacement rate of nematodes in sex-mixed groups of 3.0 × 10 mm s in a mucus-like medium is in good agreement with estimates of migration velocities of 10 to 10 mm s in the gut. Our data indicate motion to be non-periodic and their migration random (diffusive-like), but triggerable by the presence of kin.
肠道寄生虫在世界各地广泛存在，导致人类和动物的慢性感染。然而，对于这些寄生虫在宿主肠道中的运动方式知之甚少。我们研究了自然感染的小鼠的运动，并用其作为蛔虫感染的动物模型。我们在简化的环境中研究了 在模拟肠道腔关键物理特征的环境中的运动，即中等粘度和肠绒毛拓扑结构。我们发现这些线虫的运动序列是非周期性的，但迁移可以用瞬时异常扩散来描述。在雌雄混合的群体中，由于线虫的偏向性、增强扩散运动，检测到聚集。这种运动可能是由交配和繁殖引起的，而单个线虫则随机移动（扩散）。像高粘液状粘度或绒毛拓扑这样的自然物理障碍减缓了线虫的聚集，但并没有完全阻止线虫的聚集。此外，在粘液状介质中雌雄混合组中线虫的平均位移率为 3.0×10 毫米/秒，与肠道中 10 到 10 毫米/秒的迁移速度估计值非常吻合。我们的数据表明线虫的运动是非周期性的，它们的迁移是随机的（类似扩散），但可以被亲缘关系的存在触发。
