Echinostomes are ubiquitous intestinal flatworm parasites of vertebrates, and are important in human and veterinary medicine and wildlife diseases. They are also very good models for biology experiments because they are easy and inexpensive to maintain in adult and larval worm stages, and of course are unlikely to draw the attention of animal rights advocates. They have been used for decades for research, but practical information on such use has not been compiled in a single reference before. They have been used in experiments in excystation and in-vitro cultivation, larval and adult parasite-host relationships, reproductive behavior, various aspects of host-parasite recognition and interactions, and other concerns at all levels from molecular to organismic. The topics include biology; systematics; maintenance, cultivation, and excystation; behavioral biology; reproductive physiology and behavior; physiology and biochemistry; and immunobiology and immunodiagnosis. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
Echinostomes are ubiquitous intestinal flatworm parasites of vertebrates and are of importance in human and veterinary medicine and wildlife diseases. Echinostomes can be maintained easily and inexpensively in the laboratory and provide good models for biological research ranging from the molecular to the organismal. Considerable but scattered literature has been published on the subject of echinostomes and a synthesis of this wide range of topics has now been achieved with the publication of this book, which presents a wide range of topics in experimental biology related to the use of echinostomes as laboratory models. It will have a special appeal to advanced undergraduates and graduate students in parasitology and should also appeal to professional parasitologists, physicians, veterinarians, wildlife disease biologists, and any biomedical scientists interested in new model systems for studies in experimental biology.
