Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T08:52:23.911Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The development of the body wall of Polymorphus minutus (Acanthocephala) in its intermediate host Gammarus pulex

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Penelope E. Butterworth
Penelope E. Butterworth
Affiliation:
The Molteno Institute, University of Cambridge*
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The ultrastructure and development of the body wall of Polymorphus minutus is described during the acanthella stages in the intermediate host Gammarus pulex.

The cortex of the early acanthella is simple in structure, consisting of a syncytium containing giant nuclei, mitochondria, Golgi bodies, endoplasmic reticulum and a few lipid bodies. The cuticle is penetrated by pores which open into vesicles in a vesicular region.

The cortex gives rise to the body wall, neck and lemnisci of the adult, and may be considered as divided initially into two and later three functionally different regions: an outer absorptive region, an inner storage region and a layer between which develops to provide firm, resistant skeletal protection.

Absorption is facilitated by the increase in surface area due to the pores which penetrate the surface. This region is functional throughout development and the pores increase in number, possibly by division, as the animal grows. Beneath the pores a pore canal layer develops towards the end of the late acanthella stage.

During development supporting fibres are deposited throughout the cortex. Beneath the vesicular layer a concentration of mitochondria, Golgi bodies and endoplasmic reticulum deposit the fibres of the felt layer. In the anterior meta-soma no felt layer is found, but the body spines originate from this region.

The inner region of the cortex, or radial layer, contains the giant nuclei, which are arranged in the early acanthella in 5 rings of 4, 6, 5 or 6, 6 and 5 nuclei respectively. During development they produce dendritic process and finally fragment. They are considered here to be concerned with the formation of the felt layer and lemnisci rather than the ‘lacunar channels’. The inner cortical region becomes ensely packed with lipid bodies, and it is suggested that these may be responsible, owing to fixation artifact, for the so-called ‘lacunar channels’ previously described in these regions, the extensive cavities seen in some light microscope preparations being filled with a fluid lipid rather than an aqueous solution.

The lemnisci are similar in appearance to the cortex except for regions of concentrated endoplasmic reticulum.

The mitochondria in the cortex of the acanthella appear to be aerobic rather than anaerobic, as they possess many cristae and are larger than the mitochondria of the adults.

My thanks are due to Dr D. W. T. Crompton for advice and encouragement, and to Dr D. H. Northcote and Dr F. B. P. Wooding for time on the Phillips Electron Microscope 100. This work was carried out during the tenure of an S.R.C. studentship.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 59 , Issue 2 , May 1969 , pp. 373 - 388
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1969

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Barrett, J. & Butterworth, P. E. (1968). The carotenoids of Polymorphus minutus (Acanthocephala) and its intermediate host Gammarus pulex. Comp. Biochem. Physiol. (In the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brachet, J. & Osawa, S. (1961). In The Cell, vol. 2. Cells and their Component Parts, pp. 679–80. Ed. J., Brachet and Mirsky, A. E.. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Chenk, T. C. & Jacknick, L. (1964). A cytochemical determination of DNA and RNA in Hymenolepis diminuta during the growth phase in the rat host. Z. ParasitKde. 24, 49–64.Google Scholar
Crompton, D. W. T. (1963). Morphological and histological observations on Polymorphus minutus (Goeze, 1782). with special reference to the body wall. Parasitology 53, 663–85.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crompton, D. W. T. & Lee, D. L. (1965). The fine structure of the body wall of Polymorphus minutus (Goeze, 1782) (Acanthocephala). Parasitology 55, 357–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goodey, J. B. (1957). Laboratory methods for work with plant and soil nematodes. Tech. Bull. Minist. Agric., Fish. & Fd. no. 2, London: H.M.S.O.Google Scholar
Greef, R. (1864). Untershungen über den Bau und die Naturgeschichte von Echinorhynchus miliarius Zenker (E. polymorphus). Arch. Naturgesch. 30, 98–140.Google Scholar
Hammond, R. A. (1966). The proboscis mechanism of Acanthocephalus ranae. J. exp. Biol. 45, 203–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammond, R. A. (1967). The fine structure of the trunk and praesoma wall of Acanthocephalus ranae (Schrank, 1788), Lühe, 1911. Parasitology 57, 475–86.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hynes, H. B. N. & Nicholas, W. L. (1957). The development of Polymorphus minutus (Goeze, 1782) (Acanthocephala) in its intermediate host. Ann. trop. Med. Parasit. 51, 380–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kay, D. H. (1965). (ed.). Techniques for Electron Microscopy, 2nd ed.Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Lillie, R. D. (1965). Histopathologic Technic and Practical Histochemistry. 3rd ed.London: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Meyer, A. (1933). Acanthocephala; Bronn's Klassen und Ordnungen des Tierreichs, 4, Leipzig.Google Scholar
Nicholas, W. L. & Mercer, E. H. (1965). The ultrastructure of the tegument of Moniliformis dubius (Acanthocephala). Q. Jl microsc. Sci. 106, 137–46.Google ScholarPubMed
Pantin, C. F. A. (1964). Notes on Microscopical Technique for Zoologists, 1st ed.Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Pearse, A. G. E. (1960). Histochemistry, Theoretical and Applied, 2nd ed.London: J. and A. Churchill Ltd.Google Scholar
Stranack, F. R., Woodhouse, M. A. & Griffin, R. L. (1966). Preliminary observations on the ultrastructure of the body wall of Pomphorhynchus laevis (Acanthocephala). J. Helminth. 40, 395–402.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Van Cleave, H. J. (1928). Nuclei of the subcuticula in the Acanthocephala. Z. Zellforsch. mikrosk. Anat. 7, 109–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar