Establishment of an in vitro culture system to study the developmental biology of Onchocerca volvulus with implications for anti-Onchocerca drug discovery and screening

Abstract

The present study describes an in vitro system in which O. volvulus L3 larvae can be maintained in culture leading to the development of adult stages. Thus, this in vitro system may provide a platform to investigate mating behaviour and early stage of nodulogenesis of O. volvulus adult worms that can be used as additional targets for macrofilaricidal drug screening.