An experimental study was undertaken to observe the difference in susceptibility of mouse strains to Metagonimus yokogawai infection by estimating it from worm recovery rate and dimension of worms. It was also studied the effects of prednisolone injection on the chronological pattern of worm recovery in ICR mice. The metacercariae were obtained from sweetfish and 300 in each number were given to 5 strains (CBH, A, DBA, C(57)BL and KK) of mice, and after 7 days period, the worms were collected from their intestine. Prednisolone at the dose of 10 mg/kg was injected to ICR mice every other day from 7 days prior to infection until sacrificed at 6 hours to 35th post-infection day. ICR mice infected with M.yokogawai but untreated were used for controls. The success rate in infection of mice ranged 25.0-83.3% by strains, the worm recovery rate 1.2-18.9%, and the average size of worms 0.554-0.683 mm long and 0.214-0.244 mm wide. The higher rates and larger size of worms were observed in KK and C(57)BL strains than others and the difference was statistically significant. In ICR mice for control, the worm recovery rate until 1 day after infection was relatively high (38-66%) but it became much lower (less than 0.7%) during 1-35 days. However, prednisolone injection brought about persistently high recovery rates (16-80%) until 21 days. It was concluded that the susceptibility to M. yokogawai infection is different by strains of mice but it can be elevated by prednisolone injection probably due to suppression of immune responses in ICR mice.
parasitology-helminth-trematoda ; Metagonimus yokogawai ; susceptibility ; mouse ; immunosupression ; prednisolone