Hernandez A D, Sukhdeo M V
Department of Animal Sciences, Rutgers, State University of New Jersey, New Brunswick 08903, USA.
J Parasitol. 1995 Dec;81(6):865-9.
Grooming behavior may play a part in the transmission of the gastrointestinal nematode, Heligomosomoides polygyrus in the mouse host. After infective larvae are placed on individually housed mice, significantly higher numbers of adult worms were recovered from the small intestine of mice that were allowed to self-groom when compared to infection levels in mice that had been fitted with Elizabethan collars to prevent self-grooming. Larvae placed on a single mouse housed with 3 other untreated mice resulted in all mice in the group becoming infected, suggesting that allogrooming may also be important in parasite transmission. A significantly higher percentage of larvae nictate on rough surfaces such as damp peat moss substrate when compared to smooth surfaces such as 0.5% agarose. Mice exposed to larvae placed on peat moss substrate have significantly higher infection levels when compared to mice exposed to larvae on a 0.5% agarose substratum, suggesting that natural transmission of infective L3 larvae in mice may be dependent on a substratum type that allows nictation behavior. A significantly higher percentage of worms were attracted to mouse urine and mouse and rat epidermal lipids when compared to deionized water controls in an in vitro preference assay, suggesting an attraction to host-specific signals. These results support the hypothesis that transmission of this parasite is an active process involving movement of the infective larvae of H. polygyrus into the host's active space where they are ingested during grooming behavior.
梳理行为可能在小鼠宿主中传播胃肠道线虫——多形螺旋线虫的过程中发挥作用。将感染性幼虫置于单独饲养的小鼠身上后，与佩戴伊丽莎白项圈以防止自我梳理的小鼠的感染水平相比，能自我梳理的小鼠小肠中回收的成虫数量显著更多。将幼虫置于与3只未处理的小鼠同笼饲养的一只小鼠身上，结果该组所有小鼠均被感染，这表明异体梳理在寄生虫传播中可能也很重要。与光滑表面（如0.5%琼脂糖）相比，在粗糙表面（如潮湿泥炭藓基质）上，有显著更高比例的幼虫进行nictate行为。与暴露于0.5%琼脂糖基质上幼虫的小鼠相比，暴露于泥炭藓基质上幼虫的小鼠感染水平显著更高，这表明小鼠体内感染性L3幼虫的自然传播可能取决于允许nictate行为的基质类型。在体外偏好试验中，与去离子水对照相比，有显著更高比例的线虫被吸引到小鼠尿液以及小鼠和大鼠的表皮脂质上，这表明线虫对宿主特异性信号有吸引力。这些结果支持了这样一种假说，即这种寄生虫的传播是一个主动过程，涉及多形螺旋线虫的感染性幼虫移动到宿主的活动空间，在梳理行为期间被宿主摄入。
