Changes in hepatic lipids of mice infected with cysticerci of Taenia crassiceps

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy was employed to investigate the effect of infection with Taenia crassiceps cysticerci on the lipid profile of mouse liver. Chloroform/methanol extracts of livers from infected mice showed lower concentrations of phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylinositol, total glycerophospholipid, triacylglycerol, total fatty acid (FA) and all measured FA components than those from controls. Furthermore, the ratios obtained on dividing concentrations of the FA components by that of total FA demonstrate that the concentration decreases caused by infection are less for polyunsaturated fatty acids (FAs) than for other FAs. Extracts of T. crassiceps displayed a similar lipid profile to that of host liver but contained a lower lipid content and a shorter average FA chain length.