In vivo cercaria-schistosomulum transformation: inhibitory effect of oxamniquine

Abstract

High doses of oxamniquine (given intramuscularly) produced inhibition of cercaria-schistosomulum transformation following intraperitoneal injections of cercariae into mice. Cercariae, tail-less cercarial bodies, and schistosomula were recovered from the peritoneal cavity of drug-treated mice in numbers significantly different from those recovered from untreated mice. Since untreated animals induced transformation of almost all the injected cercariae, the data suggest the compound is active during the process of host-larvae adaptation.