Laboratory Rearing of Biomphalaria glabrata Snails and Maintenance of Larval Schistosomes In Vivo and In Vitro

R. Toledo and B. Fried (eds.), Biomphalaria Snails and Larval Trematodes, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4419-7028-2_2, © Springer Science+Business Media, LLC 2011 Abstract This chapter describes the methods used by the current authors and numerous other investigators to optimize conditions for successfully growing and maintaining both uninfected and infected Biomphalaria glabrata in the laboratory, with particular emphasis on the optimal physical, chemical, and biological factors that affect successful snail rearing and/or breeding, and the ways that they can be measured. Consideration is also given to incidental organisms that can alter aquarium ecology and affect both the snails and their intended trematode parasites. Various methods of infecting snails and maintaining snail tissues and cells in vitro are also described. The goal of this chapter is to aid researchers who have the need or desire to maintain the life cycle of this pulmonate and its trematode parasites in the laboratory.