Abstract

Echinococcus granulosus is a parasitic platyhelminth, which causes cystid hydatid disease, a major zoonosis involving canids as definitive hosts, and both human and herbivorous domestic animals as intermediate hosts. The disease is caused in intermediate hosts by hydatid cysts, formed upon ingestion of E. granulosus eggs excreted by canids. Protoscoleces, the developmental forms of the parasite infective to canids, are formed in the germinal cellular layer of hydatid cysts. We have found that protoscoleces develop from patches of proliferating cells present in the germinal layer of the hydatid cyst, while most of the other cells of the germinal layer are in a resting state. Further, patches of proliferating cells form buds, which elongate and develop a separate population of cycling cells. In these elongated buds, cell differentiation leads to the main structures of the protoscolex. Protein synthesis is very active among cells of early buds and coincides with their proliferating activity. By contrast, protein synthesis presents a much lower activity in the resting cells of the germinal layer surrounding the growing protoscoleces. In elongated buds at different stages of development, protein synthesis is found mainly close to cellular territories in which cell differentiation occurs. In free infective protoscoleces, cells in DNA synthesis are concentrated in the body of the larva while protein synthesis occurs in the entire larva. This is the first description of the regionalization of DNA and protein synthesis in developing stages of E. granulosus. © 2003 Wiley-Liss, Inc.