The fate of multiple doses of infective larvae of Nematodirus battus in 8-month-old lambs and their effect on intestinal enzyme activity

Mapes C.J. and Coop R.L. 1973. The fate of multiple doses of infective larvae of Nematodirus battus in 8-month-old lambs and their effect on intestinal enzyme activity. International Journal for Parasitology3: 363–370. The fate of five daily doses of 60,000 infective larvae of Nematodirus battus was studied in 8-month-old lambs. On 18, 26 and 34 days after the last larval dose 4.0, 3.3 and 1.0 per cent of the total infective dose was recovered. Approximately 50 per cent of the worms recovered on these days were fourth-stage larvae. It is suggested that L5 and adult stages were preferentially lost from the hosts and that male worms were developing at a faster rate than the females. The populations of N. battus were smaller, contained higher proportions of fourth-stage larvae and shorter L5 and adult worms than those developing from similar infective doses in 3-month-old lambs. A transient decrease in alkaline phosphatase and maltase levels was found in the mucosa of the small intestine and was compared with the marked and persistent changes in mucosal enzyme activities found with similar infective doses in 3-month-old hosts.