The Fate of Gamma-Irradiated Schistosoma Mansoni Cercariae in Mice

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Abstract
Summary Schistosomes irradiated with 8000 r from Co-60 penetrated into mice and migrated to the lungs at about the same rate as normal ones, but in somewhat fewer numbers. The maximum number of irradiated schistosomes was recovered by perfusion at 14 days after penetration, but their numbers rapidly declined thereafter. The first histological evidence of the death of these worms was found in the liver at 22 days after exposure. Only a few of the irradiated schistosomes could be recovered from mice by perfusion after 35 and 42 days, and these worms were very stunted and appeared to be moribund. The site of death of worms irradiated with 8000 r was primarily in the liver, but some worms were unable to migrate from the lungs and succumbed there. Mice were able to tolerate infections with irradiated schistosomes, and their tissues were restored to an apparently normal condition within a few weeks after the worms had perished from the effects of radiation and the host response.

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