Fig 1.
Brain MRI findings and gross examination of pigs’ brains showing cysticerci (white arrows).
(A-C) Fluid-attenuated inversion recovery (FLAIR) sequences; (D-F) Fast imaging employing steady-state acquisition (FIESTA) sequences; (G-H) Corticomeningeal cysticerci; (I) Cysticerci lodged in the cerebellum.
Table 1.
Distribution of pigs with cysticercosis and NCC, as well as efficiency of infection (%) according to oncosphere dose–groups.
Fig 2.
Boxplots showing the distribution of total muscle cysticerci (A) and vesicular CNS cysticerci according to dose groups.
P value was obtained by using nonparametric Cuzick’s trend test. The median is represented as the horizontal line in the box, and the lines (whiskers) outside the wall are extended to cover all data points that lie within 1.5 ± IQR (interquartile ranges) from upper and lower quartiles respectively. Data points outside whiskers represent outliers.
Table 2.
Necropsy results (cyst burden with either vesicular or degenerated cysticerci in muscle and CNS) and percentages of cyst viability in pigs according to oncosphere dose-groups.
Fig 3.
Histopathology of H&E-stained sections of two brain cysticerci with pericystic inflammation recovered from different experimental NCC pigs.
(A), (B), and (C) show a parenchymal cyst with adjacent tissue at x4, x20, and x40 magnification respectively. Moderate pericystic inflammation in all areas surrounding the parasite is observed with a moderate number of inflammatory cells (mainly eosinophils and lymphocytes), and cyst wall and neck appears to be intact. (D), (E), and (F) show a corticomeningeal cyst with abundant pericystic inflammation in the cortical parenchyma at x4, x20, and x40 magnification. Three pericystic cell layers were observed, the first corresponded to abundant epithelioid cells, eosinophils, and macrophages dispersed between collagen fibers. The second layer includes numerous eosinophils and macrophages. The third layer included plethoric meningeal vessels with abundant extravasated eosinophils, lymphocytes, and epithelioid cells. Cyst wall appeared with slight damage. Key: cw = cyst wall; pi = pericystic inflammation.
Fig 4.
Dynamics of antigen and antibody response profiles at follow up days according to oncosphere-dose groups.
(A) Antigen levels summarized using means ± standard errors; (B) Numbers of EITB bands summarized using medians with IQR (interquartile ranges).
Fig 5.
Spearman’s rank correlations coefficients between the number of vesicular cysticerci found in pigs at the time of necropsy with antigen levels on Ag-ELISA (A) and antibody bands on EITB (B).