Hymenolepis citelli: Development and chemical composition in hypothermic ground squirrels

Induced hypothermia in the 13-lined ground squirrel Citellus t. tridecemlineatus profoundly affected an infection with Hymenolepis citelli (Cestoda). Effects noted on growth and development were as follows: size, weight, proglottid differentiation, and gametogenesis were significantly retarded; polysaccharide and protein concentrations were reduced; and alcohol-soluble sugar concentration was increased. Less than 6% of the cestodes established themselves in squirrels if hypothermia was induced within 72 hr postinoculation. Also adult cestodes were destrobilated 3–4 weeks after the onset of hypothermia, but the scoleces remained in about 50% of the hosts at the end of 6 months of host hypothermia.