Angiostrongylus vasorum Experimental Infection and Larval Development in Omalonyx matheroni.pdfVIP

Hindawi Publishing Corporation Journal of Parasitology Research Volume 2011, Article ID 178748, 4 pages doi:10.1155/2011/178748 Research Article Angiostrongylus vasorum : Experimental Infection and Larval Development in Omalonyx matheroni L. R. Mozzer,1 L. C. Montresor,2 T. H. D. A. Vidigal,2 and W. S. Lima1 1 Departamento de Parasitologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antˆonio Carlos 6627, Caixa Postal 486, 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil 2 Departamento de Zoologia, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais, Avenida Presidente Antˆonio Carlos 6627, Caixa Postal 486, 31270-901, Belo Horizonte, MG, Brazil Correspondence should be addressed to W. S. Lima, wlima@icb.ufmg.br Received 2 December 2010; Revised 12 March 2011; Accepted 13 April 2011 Academic Editor: Maria V. Johansen Copyright © 2011 L. R. Mozzer et al. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. The susceptibility and suitability of Omalonyx matheroni as an intermediate host of Angiostrongylus vasorum and the characteristics of larval recovery and development were investigated. Mollusks were infected, and from the 3rd to the 25th day after infection, larvae were recovered from groups of 50 individuals. The first observation of L2 was on the 5th day, and the first observation of L3 was on the 10th day. From the 22nd day on, all larvae were at the L3 stadium. Larval recovery varied from 78.2% to 95.2%. We found larval development to be faster in O. matheroni than in Biomphalaria glabrata. Our findings indicate that this mollusk is highly susceptible to A. vasorum . Infective L3 were orally inoculated into a dog, an