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Development of surface and body musculature of the bird schistosome Trichobilharzia regenti
Bulantová, Jana ; Horák, Petr (advisor) ; Nebesářová, Jana (referee) ; Toledo, Rafael (referee)
Description of Trichobilharzia regenti as a new species of nasal bird schistosome in 1998 was only the first step in our knowledge of this extraordinary parasite. Natural definitive hosts of T. regeni are anseriform birds, but infective larvae - cercariae - are able to penetrate also into mammalian hosts including humans. There they are causative agents of hypersensitive skin immune reaction called cercarial dermatitis or swimmer's itch. Contrary to other schistosomes, miracidia of T. regenti hatch directly inside the definitive host tissue. Schistosomula migrate through the nervous system of vertebrates and, together with adult worms, they have predominantly extravascular localization in definitive hosts. Adult worms have a short lifespan and low degree of sexual dimorphism, connected with lower dependence of adult females on long-term contact with males. During the life cycle, T. regenti can be found within three different environments (freshwater, tissue of intermediate molluscan host and tissue of vertebrate host). Each of the seven developmental stages has a different role in the life cycle which corresponds with different organization of various organ systems. The introductory part of the thesis is focused entirely on ontogenetic changes of surface ultrastructure and body musculature of...
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