ArticlePLoS neglected tropical diseases2021
Establishment of an in vitro culture system to study the developmental biology of Onchocerca volvulus with implications for anti-Onchocerca drug discovery and screening.
Article in PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 2021. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 15 citations in OpenAlex.
- Preclinical animal models for onchocerciasis and loiasis: A systematic review of applications in drug screening.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2026Pooled it
- Comparative development of human filariaeFrontiers in tropical diseases · 2024Article
- Proteomic differences between extracellular vesicles and extracellular vesicle-depleted excretory/secretory products of barber's pole worm.Parasites & vectors · 2024Article
- The Truman Show for Human Helminthic Parasites: A Review of Recent Advances in In Vitro Cultivation Platforms.Microorganisms · 2023Review
- Filariasis research - from basic research to drug development and novel diagnostics, over a decade of research at the Institute for Medical Microbiology, Immunology and Parasitology, Bonn, Germany.Frontiers in tropical diseases · 2023Article
- Dirofilariasis mouse models for heartworm preclinical research.Frontiers in microbiology · 2023Article
- A mouse infection model and long-term lymphatic endothelium co-culture system to evaluate drugs against adult Brugia malayi.PLoS neglected tropical diseases · 2022Article
- Onchocerciasis drug development: from preclinical models to humans.Parasitology research · 2021Review
- Adoptive Transfer of Immune Cells Into RAG2IL-2Rγ-Deficient Mice DuringFrontiers in immunology · 2021Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
13 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundInfections with Onchocerca volvulus nematodes remain a threat in Sub-Saharan Africa after three decades of ivermectin mass drug administration. Despite this effort, there is still an urgent need for understanding the parasite biology especially the mating behaviour and nodule formation as well as the development of more potent drugs that can clear the developmental (L3, L4, L5) and adult stages of the parasite and inhibit parasite reproduction and behaviour. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL
findingsPrior to culture, freshly harvested O. volvulus L3 larvae from dissected Simulium damnosum flies were purified by centrifugation using a 30% Percoll solution to eliminate fly tissue debris and contaminants. Parasites were cultured in both cell-free and cell-based co-culture systems and monitored daily by microscopic visual inspection. Exhausted culture medium was replenished every 2-3 days. The cell-free culture system (DMEM supplemented with 10% NCS) supported the viability and motility of O. volvulus larvae for up to 84 days, while the co-culture system (DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS and seeded on LLC-MK2 feeder cells) extended worm survival for up to 315 days. Co-culture systems alone promoted two consecutive parasite moults (L3 to L4 and L4 to L5) with highest moulting rates (69.2±30%) observed in DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS and seeded on LLC-MK2 feeder cells, while no moult was observed in DMEM supplemented with 10% NCS and seeded on LEC feeder cells. In DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS and seeded on LLC-MK2 feeder cells, O. volvulus adult male worms attached to the vulva region of adult female worms and may have mated in vitro. Apparent early initiation of nodulogenesis was observed in both DMEM supplemented with 10% FBS and seeded on LLC-MK2 and DMEM supplemented with 10% NCS and seeded on LLC-MK2 systems. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The present study describes an in vitro system in which O. volvulus L3 larvae can be maintained in culture leading to the development of adult stages. Thus, this in vitro system may provide a platform to investigate mating behaviour and early stage of nodulogenesis of O. volvulus adult worms that can be used as additional targets for macrofilaricidal drug screening.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.