Nurse Cells

The companion piece to Trichinella spiralis! Nurse cells are something that are formed exclusively by Trichinella spiralis. They're what happens once the larva finally make it to the muscle cells. They find their nice homey cell that they want, but then, it's not quite right. So they somehow release stimulants that undifferentiate the muscle cell, allowing them to shape it to their needs. They're even able to re-direct the blood supply to the cell, so they can keep themselves living. These typically show up 14-16 days after infection with Trichinella spiralis. They've been shown to survive for up to 30 years inside these nurse cells! Most, however, calcify and die.

These are also an interesting case of worms immunosurppressing the host, as there seems to be little immune response to the nurse cells themselves. Repeated oral ingestion of Trichinella spiralis seems to break down the previous immunosurppression, resulting in larva from previous infections being killed.

Photo Credit: trichinella.org