Experimental Infection of Mice with the Parasitic Nematode Strongyloides ratti

Strongyloides ratti is a parasitic nematode that naturally infects wild rats. However, most laboratory rat and mouse strains are fully susceptible to infection. Immunocompetent BALB/c and C57BL/6 mice terminate S. ratti infections within a month in the context of a canonical type 2 immune response and remain semi-resistant to a re-infection. The course of infection can be divided into three phases: (a) the tissue migration phase of the infective third-stage larvae during the first two days; (b) the early intestinal phase, including the molting to the adult parasites and embedding in the mucosa of the intestine in days 3 to 6 post-infection with reproduction starting by day 5 to 6 post-infection; (c) the later intestinal phase ending with the complete clearance of the parasites. Experimental infections of mice with S. ratti enable the precise study of host-parasite interactions throughout the whole life cycle at the different sites of infection, as well as immune evasion strategies employed by the parasite. The protocol presented here describes the maintenance of the parasite in Wistar rats, the infection of laboratory mice, and the detection and quantification of S. ratti parasites in the tissue migrating phase and during the intestinal phase.