Ultrasonographic and serologic studies of experimental cysticercosis in rats infected with Taenia taeniaeformis

Rats experimentally infected with Taenia taeniaeformis were followed-up until 14 weeks post inoculation with eggs (PIE) by hepatic ultrasonographic (US) image and serum antibody response analyses. Parasitic cysts could be imaged as small (2 mm in diameter) anechoic areas with or without a parenthesis-like echogenic small line from two weeks PIE. Immunoblot analysis using antigens from oncospheres (TtO), 30-day-old (TtM-30) and 300-day-old metacestodes (TtM-300) revealed that: (1) these three different developmental stages showed their own unique patterns suggesting the presence of stage-specific antigens; (2) faint IgM antibody responses to some components of TtO and TtM-30 or TtM-300 could be detected from one and two weeks PIE, respectively, and (3) IgG responses to some major components of both TtO and TtM-300, and TtM-30 were easily detected from four and five weeks PIE onwards, respectively. Both TtO and TtM (especially TtM-300) appeared to be highly useful for detection of antibody responses in experimentally infected rats. Due to the easiness in preparation of antigens, fully developed metacestodes may be the best candidate antigens for serodiagnosis. These results strongly suggest that both US image and antibody analyses using antigens from fully developed metacestodes are useful for detection of the early stage of cysticercosis in laboratory animal model .