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First published online May 24, 2004
Journal of Experimental Biology 207, 2351-2360 (2004)
Published by The Company of Biologists 2004
doi: 10.1242/jeb.01020
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Morphological plasticity varies with duration of infection: evidence from lactating and virgin wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus) infected with an intestinal parasite (Heligmosomoides polygyrus; Nematoda)

Deborah M. Kristan* and Kimberly A. Hammond

Department of Biology, University of California, Riverside, CA 92521, USA

* Author for correspondence at present address: Department of Biological Sciences, California State University, San Marcos, CA 92096, USA (e-mail: dkristan{at}csusm.edu)

Accepted 7 April 2004

With chronic parasite infection, host response to the parasite may change throughout the duration of the infection as the host progresses from the acute to the chronic phase. We investigated the effects of parasite infection ranging in duration from 30 to 120 days on host morphology both alone and in combination with lactation by using captive wild-derived house mice (Mus musculus) experimentally infected with a naturally occurring intestinal nematode (Heligmosomoides polygyrus). We found that some changes in host morphology were greatest at 30-60 days post-infection (e.g. spleen mass) followed by a decline towards the control state whereas other morphological changes were greatest at 90-120 days post-infection (e.g. small intestine mass) after a relatively steady increase with infection duration. For all infection durations, the morphological responses to parasite infection were similar for virgin and lactating mice (except for lean body mass). After accounting for changes in body mass with lactation, lactating mice increased organs of the gastrointestinal tract as well as liver and kidney but had less body fat than virgin mice. This is the first study to demonstrate that morphological plasticity of mice parasitized by H. polygyrus varies with infection duration and that this variation is generally similar for lactating and virgin mice.

Key words: infection duration, lactation, phenotypic plasticity, Nematoda, Mus musculus, Heligmosomoides polygyrus


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© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2004