Growth and Maturation of the Cestode Hymenolepis diminuta in Bileless Hosts

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Abstract
Surgical alteration of Wistar rats subsequently challenged with infective cysticercoids or implanted adult rat tapeworms, Hymenolepis diminuta. was used to study the role of bile in the growth and maturation of the adult tapeworm. Seventy-eight rats, of which 44 lived until sacrificed, were used in different types of operations designed to prevent flow of bile into the duodenum. In bileless hosts growth of surgically implanted worms was greatly depressed as were also yields of worms from ingested cysticercoids. Functionally worms were atypical with spermatogenesis and oogenesis greatly reduced or absent. Some worms failed to strobilate. In bileless hosts fed supplementary dried ox bile, sodium taurocholate, or sodium glycocholate growth and maturation of worms exceeded that in bileless hosts. Some implanted worms in hosts fed supplementary ox bile had quadrupled in size in 11 days; growth and maturation of worms in these hosts were roughly proportional to the amount of ox bile supplement. Bileless hosts, fed with supplementary inorganic alkalizers, yielded no tapeworms from implants or ingested cysticercoids. Weight losses occurred in most hosts (approximately 1-2 g daily), but there was no correlation between losses and size or appearance of recovered worms. It was concluded that bile contains a factor, or factors, apparently necessary for normal growth and maturation of adult H. diminuta in the rat host.