The stimulation of daughter redia production during the larval development of Fasciola hepatica

Summary

In snails maintained at 20 °C rediae of Fasciola hepatica emerge from sporocysts from 11 days after infection onwards. The number of mother rediae rises steadily thereafter until at least 40 days after infection. Daughter rediae are seldom observed in mother rediae dissected from snails maintained at 20 °C. Their production can, however, be stimulated by subjecting the snail host to starvation, to low, and to high temperature shocks. The parasite is susceptible to stress from immediately after infection for about 16 days, when maintained at 20 °C. In general, the more extreme the shock, the greater is daughter redial production. Increasing the length of the period of stress from 12 h up to 9 days does not increase the production of daughter rediae, nor does repeated on/off cold shocks or continuous maintenance at 10 °C. Daughter rediae develop more rapidly than cercariae and leave the mother rediae several days earlier. There is no evidence that presence of daughter rediae coincides with the suppression of cercarial production. The findings are discussed with reference to possible mechanisms by which parasite development might be controlled.