Usefulness of severe combined immunodeficiency (scid) and inbred mice for studies of cysticercosis and echinococcosis

The topics in this review are the usefulness of immunodeficient and inbred mice for studies of developmental biology, drug efficacy and host specificity in cysticercosis and echinococcosis. In non-obese diabetic severe combined immunodeficiency (NOD/Shi-scid) mice of both sexes, in vitro hatched oncospheres of all three human taeniid species (Taenia solium, Taenia saginata and Taenia asiatica) developed into cysticerci comparable to or bigger than those developed in their known intermediate host animals, whereas only females were susceptible to these infections in other scid mice of BALB/c, C57BL or C.B-17 inbred strains. Detailed morphological observation from post-oncospheral to cysticercus developmental stages is expected to be easy when we use NOD/Shi-scid mice experimentally inoculated with in vitro hatched oncospheres. Metacestocidal effect of oxfendazole was evaluated in NOD/Shi-scid mice experimentally inoculated with oncospheres of T. solium. In Echinococcus multilocularis infection, larval tissue proliferated without induction of inflammatory host responses in scid mice, thus facilitating isolation of the larval vesicles and protoscoleces for biochemical and molecular biological studies. Trans portal inoculation of metacestode tissues resulted in proliferation of secondary echinococcal foci localized exclusively in the liver without metastasis to other tissues or organs. The advantages of a mouse model for Echinococcus granulosus are also described.