Collection and oral administration of T. spiralis larvae in mouse muscles
T. spiralis were maintained in our laboratory through serial infection of rats. The parasites were isolated from the infected mice through dissection, were their muscle tissues were harvested and bones were removed. The muscles were treated with an artificial digestion solution (1% pepsin and 1% concentrated hydrochloric acid) for 4 h at 37°C. Subsequently, the mixture was filtered using an 80-mesh filter and rinsed thrice. The larvae were subsequently harvested in accordance with the modified Bellman’s method. Then, the vitality of the larvae was assessed, and they were enumerated under a microscope. The mice in the TS and TS+CR groups were orally infected with 400 individual larvae.