The cestode Taenia solium, the causative agent of neurocysticercosis, can be an intestinal flatworm or a larval cyst that lodges in soft tissues like the brain. The cyst stage is an invaginated, underdeveloped worm inside a 10-15 mm vesicle. If a person ingests a cyst, present in infected pork meat, gastric juices stimulate the evagination of the “head” or scolex, initiating the metamorphoses into the adult form. The worm can grow up to 3 meters, forming proglottids. These mature sexually and produce eggs that are expelled in feces and can contaminate water sources and food. Eggs ingested by pigs or humans develop as cysts, closing the life cycle of the parasite. The Notch pathway is involved in developmental processes such as tissue patterning, sexual maturation, and neural development. Since Notch genes participate in the body patterning and segmentation of the cestode Hymenolepis ...

Introducción: El cestodo Taenia solium alcanza su forma adulta, capaz de reproducirse, exclusivamente en el intestino humano. Los huevecillos que genera pueden ser ingeridos y desarrollarse como larvas (cisticercos o quistes) en el tejido muscular y el cerebro, causando cisticercosis en cerdos y humanos, un grave problema de salud pública en países en desarrollo. Frenar el ciclo de vida del parásito requiere conocer su metamorfosis, el paso de larva a gusano adulto.