Studies on Dictyocaulus filaria. I. Modifications of laboratory procedures

Abstract

Techniques used in a study of the life-cycle of Dictyocaulus filaria (Rudolphi, 1809) are described. First stage larvae migrate from faecal pellets placed in water. Infective larvae are cultured in clean water at room temperature and aerated overnight for 7 days. Sheep are infested per os with infective larvae. At various intervals after infestation they are killed and their organs are cut into small pieces, placed in a modified Baermann apparatus and the parasites allowed to migrate from the tissue into physiological saline at 37°C for 6 to 8 hours. Larvae are collected from lymph drained from the thoracic duct with a catheter. Some of the recovered worms are killed with an iodine solution; others intended for morphological studies are killed by heating to 60°C and preserved in a mixture containing triethanolamine.