ABSTRACT

The so called Cysticercus bovis is an infective stage of Taenia saginata. This metacestode form lives in intermediate hosts such as cattle and various other animals. It can be found in the musculature of these hosts especially in the young, resembles a pearl-white colored pea and its maximum length is 1 cm. This cysticercus consists of a fluid filled bladder containing an inverted scolex. In this study, we dissected about 45 cysticerci from a calf heart. Some of these cysticerci were fixed in 10% formaldehyde, then sectioned, stained and mounted using routine histopathological methods. Some other specimens were dissected; the scolices were everted and then stained with either Delafield’s hematoxylin or Semichon’s carmine. The remaining ones were used in our tissue culture experiments. In this part of the study, we tried to establish a cell line culture from the cells of the neck region of the scolices without success. In this paper, we have reported our findings on the cysticercus stage of T. saginata.

Keywords: Taenia saginata, cysticercus