Preliminary observations on thein-vitro culture of metacestodes ofTaenia saginata

Metacestodes ofTaenia saginata were cultured in a diphasic medium consisting of a disrupted solid phase of coagulated calf serum and a fluid phase of hepes buffered RPMI-1640 enriched with sodium pyruvate and foetal calf serum. The growing tapeworms formed segments, which showed early development of sexual organs. This culture technique gave better results than methods using monophasic media or an intact solid phase when assessed in terms both of the survival of the cestodes and of five parameters measured at the end of the culture period.