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Cytochemical localization of cytochrome c oxidase activity in mitochondria in the tegument and tegumental and parenchymal cells of the trematodes Echinostoma trivolvis, Zygocotyle lunata, Schistosoma mansoni, Fasciola gigantica and Paragonimus ohirai
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 June 2009
Abstract
Cytochrome c oxidase in the mitochondria of the tegument and tegumental and parenchymal cells was examined cytochemically in Echinostoma trivolvis, Zygocotyle lunata, Schistosoma mansoni, Fasciola gigantica and Paragonimus ohirai, trematodes that inhabit different sites in their vertebrate hosts. Clear differences in enzyme activity occurred in the mitochondria of these species, probably reflecting the different energy metabolisms of these worms. Marked aerobic metabolism occurred in S. mansoni and P. ohirai adults that inhabit the host mesenteric veins and the lungs, respectively. The tegument and parenchymal cells of S. mansoni possess relatively few, small mitochondria with tubular cristae which are heavily reactive for cytochrome c oxidase. In P. ohirai, the activity for cytochrome c oxidase in tegumental mitochondria increased gradually from juveniles to adults, reflecting that the respiratory activity increased with growth and the aerobic metabolism is activated when the worms reach the lung. P. ohirai juveniles and adults had two types of mitochondria with different shapes and enzyme activities that were located in two different types of parenchymal cells. The intestinal species, E. trivolvis had mitochondria in the basal aspect of the tegument, and some variations in enzyme activity of their mitochondria in the tegumental and parenchymal cells were observed, suggesting that they possess both aerobic and anaerobic metabolic systems. Z. lunata that live in rodent caeca are devoid of mitochondria in the tegument and have many characteristic mitochondria with undeveloped cristae in the parenchymal cells. Mitochondria of F. gigantica showed weak or no activity for cytochrome c oxidase, suggesting that the worm is well-adapted to an anaerobic environment in the host bile duct.
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