Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T10:40:03.527Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The excretory metabolism of the endoparasitic digenean Fasciola hepatica and its relationship to its respiratory metabolism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

G. D. Moss
G. D. Moss
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Comparative Physiology, The University of BirminghamP.O. Box 363
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

The amounts of ammonia excreted by two endoparasitic flatworms have been compared and, weight for weight, the sheep liver fluke Fasciola hepatica produces ten times as much ammonia as the rat tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta. This is thought to reflect a difference in diet, the fluke feeding mainly on the blood and tissue proteins of its host, and the tapeworm mainly on carbohydrates from the food materials in the gut of the host. However, the addition of glucose to the saline in which the flukes are cultured produces a marked decrease in the ammonia and an increase in the lactic acid excreted, suggesting that flukes are not obligatory protein feeders but that they may utilize carbohydrate when it is available. The relatively low production of lactic acid when proteins are being metabolized suggests that the flukes are producing an alternative end-product of respiratory metabolism. It is possible that this is the neutral lipid found in the excretory system of Fasciola and the possibility of an alternative metabolic pathway for the production of such lipid is discussed. The respiratory metabolism appears to be independent of oxygen, and the possible role of oxygen in other aspects of the metabolism of the fluke is discussed.

I should like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr J. Llewellyn for his constant advice and encouragement during the course of this work and the preparation of the manuscript. I also thank Professor 0. E. Lowenstein, F.R.S., for allowing me the use of the facilities in his department during the tenure of an S.R.C. Research Studentship. Finally, my thanks are due to Mr E. Wilson, the Veterinary Officer at the Birmingham City Meat Market, for his constant co-operation in obtaining supplies of liver flukes.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 60 , Issue 1 , February 1970 , pp. 1 - 19
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1970

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

Baker, J. R. (1961). Cytological Technique. London: Methuen.Google Scholar
Barker, S. B. & Summerson, W. H. (1941). The colorimetric determination of lactic acid in biological material. Journal of Biological Chemistry 138, 535–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bueding, E. (1948). The metabolism of parasitic helminths. Physiological Reviews 29, 195–218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burchfield, H. P. & Storrs, E. E. (1962). Biochemical Applications of Gas Chromatography. 680 pp. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Cain, A. J. (1947). The use of nile blue sulphate in the investigation of lipoids. Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science 88, 383–92.Google Scholar
Campbell, J. W. (1963). Urea formation and urea cycle enzymes in Hymenolepis diminuta. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 8, 13–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Clegg, J. A. & Smyth, J. D. (1968). Growth, development and culture methods: parasitic platyhelminths. Chemical Zoology, vol. 2. Academic Press.Google Scholar
Dawes, B. (1954). Maintenance in vitro of Fasciola hepatica. Nature, Lond. 174, 654–5.Google Scholar
Dawes, B. (1963). Some observations on Fasciola hepatica L. during feeding operations in the hepatic parenchyma of the mouse, with notes on the nature of liver damage in this host. Parasitology 53, 135–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dorfman, A. (1943). Pathways of glycolysis. Physiological Reviews 23, 124–39.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ehrlich, I., Rijavec, M. & Kurelec, B. (1963). Urea synthesis in the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica L.). Bulletin Scientifique Conse.il de Academies de la R.P.F. Yougoslavie 8, 133.Google Scholar
Fairbairn, D., Wertheim, G., Harpur, R. P. & Schiller, E. L. (1961). Biochemistry of normal and irradiated strains of Hymenolepis diminuta. Experimental Parasitology 11, 248–63.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fenton, J. C. B. (1961). The estimation of plasma ammonia by ion exchange. Clinica Chimica Acta 7, 163–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Folch, J., Lees, M. & Sloane Stanley, G. H. (1957). A simple method for the isolation and purification of total lipids from animal tissue. Journal of Biological Chemistry 226, 497–509.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginger, C. D. & Fairbairn, D. (1966). Lipid metabolism in helminth parasites. II. The major origins of the lipids of Hymenolepis diminuta (eestoda). Journal of Parasitology 52, 1097–1107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haskins, W. T. & Oliver, L. (1958). Nitrogenous excretory products of Taenia taeniae-formis larvae. Journal of Parasitology 44, 569–73.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, P., Ehrlich, I. & Burren, G. H. (1967). Excretion of lipids by the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica L.) and incorporation of labelled precursors into fluke lipids in vitro. Abstract 245 from Federation of European Biochemical Societies Symposium 1967, p. 62.Google Scholar
Kalchar, H. M. (1947). Differential spectrophotometry of purine compounds by means of specific enzymes. Journal of Biological Chemistry 167, 429–43.Google Scholar
Kurelec, B. (1964). Urea synthesis in the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica, Linneus). II. Functional link of the urea cycle with the tricarboxylic acid cycle. Veterinary Archives 34(9/10), 221–7.Google Scholar
Kurelec, B. & Ehrlich, I. (1963). ÜUber der Natur der von Fasciola hepatica in vitro Ausge-schiedenen Amino- und Keto-sauren. Experimental Parasitology 13 (2), 113–17.Google Scholar
Kurelec, B. & Rijavec, M. (1966). Amino acid pool of the liver fluke (Fasciola hepatica, L.). Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 19, 525–31.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Mangold, H. K. (1961). Thin-layer chromatography of lipids. Journal of American Oil Chemists Society 38, 708–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mansour, T. E. (1958). The effect of serotonin on phenol oxidase from the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica, and from other sources. Biochimica el biophysica acta 30, 492–500.Google Scholar
Mansour, T. E. (1959). Studies on the carbohydrate metabolism of the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica. Biochimica et biophysica acta 34, 456–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Metcalfe, L. D. & Schmidt, A. A. (1961). The rapid preparation of fatty acid esters for gas-liquid chromatography analysis. Analytical Chemistry 33, 363.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearce, A. C. E. (1960). Histochemistry–Theoretical and Applied. London: Churchill.Google Scholar
Pearson, I. G. (1963). Use of chromium radioisotope 51Cr to estimate blood loss through ingestion by Fasciola hepatica. Experimental Parasitology 13, 186–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Prichard, R. K. & Schofield, P. J. (1968). The glycolytic pathway in adult liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 24, 677–710.Google Scholar
Read, C. P. & Simmons, J. E. (1963). The biochemistry and physiology of tapeworms. Physiological Reviews 43, 263–305.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Senft, A. W. (1963). Observations on amino acid metabolism of S. mansoni in a chemically defined medium. Annals of the New York Academy of Science 113, 272–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smith, S. & Dils, R. (1965). Temperature programmed, gas-liquid, radiochromatography of free fatty acids. Journal de Pharmacie de Belgique 5–6, 225–33.Google Scholar
Smyth, J. D. (1949). Studies on tapeworm physiology. IV. Further observations on the development of Ligula intestinalis in vitro. Journal of Experimental Biology 26, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spackman, D. H., Stein, W. H. & Moore, S. (1958). Automatic recording apparatus for use in the chromatography of amino acids. Analytical Chemistry 30, 1190–1206.Google Scholar
Spackman, D. H. (1963). Accelerated system for the automatic analysis of amino acids. Federation Proceedings 22, 244.Google Scholar
Stahl, E. (1965). Thin-Layer Chromatography: a laboratory handbook. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Van Grembergen, G. (1949). Le métabolisme respiratoire du trematode, Fasciola hepatica. Enzymologia 13, 241–57.Google Scholar
Von Brand, T. (1928). Beitrag zur Kenntnis der zusammensetzung des Fettes von Fasciola hepatica. Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Physiologie 8, 613–24.Google Scholar
Von Brand, T. (1950). Carbohydrate metabolism in parasites. Journal of Parasitology 36, 178–92.Google Scholar
Von Brand, T. (1966). The Biochemistry of Parasites. 429 pp. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Weinland, E. & Von Brand, T. (1926). Beobachtungen an Fasciola hepatica. Zeitschrift für vergleichende Physiologie 4, 212–85.Google Scholar