Zone of Interaction Between the Parasite and the Host: Protein Profile of the Body Cavity Fluid of Gasterosteus aculeatus L. Infected with the Cestode Schistocephalus solidus (Muller, 1776)

Author(s):  
Albina Kochneva ◽  
Ekaterina Borvinskaya ◽  
Lev Smirnov
Behaviour ◽  
1995 ◽  
Vol 132 (15-16) ◽  
pp. 1223-1240 ◽  
Author(s):  
Iain Barber ◽  
Felicity A. Huntingford

AbstractIn this paper we review recent experimental work on the effects of the parasite Schistocephalus solidus (Cestoda: Pseudophyllidea) on the feeding behaviour of three-spined sticklebacks (Gasterosteus aculeatus L.). We also discuss how increased feeding motivation and subsequent altered foraging behaviour may be a mechanism for parasite-associated changes in the shoaling behaviour of infected sticklebacks. The presence of S. solidus plerocercoids in the body cavity constricts the stomach, increases the handling time for large prey and consequently reduces the profitability of such prey for infected fish. This is reflected in a switch in dietary preference from large to small prey in the laboratory and in altered stomach contents and impaired nutrient reserves in the wild. By altering their hosts' nutritional state by direct competition for nutrients from digested food (and possibly indirectly by altering diet and reducing competitive ability) and also by altering the fishes' appearance, such parasites have the potential to alter the costs and benefits involved in joining a shoal of conspecifics. Experimental work on the shoaling decisions of S. solidus-infected sticklebacks supports this hypothesis, and such behavioural modification is discussed in the context of the manipulation hypothesis of parasite transmission.


Parasitology ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 657-664 ◽  
Author(s):  
Trond Bråten

Investigations on the host specificity of plerocercoids of Schistocephalus solidus were carried out using the technique of surgically transferring plerocercoids from the body cavity of Gasterosteus aculeatus to various other fish. Plerocercoids survived in all cases when transferred from G. aculeatus to other G. aculeatus; when tranferred to Pungitius pungitius the worms survived for long periods but failed to grow. Plerocercoids transferred to Coitus gobio, Nemacheilus barbatula, Phoxinus phoxinus, Salmo trutta, Coregonus clupeoides, Perca fluviatilis, Rutilus rutilus and Esox lucius always died within 2–10 days after being transferred. Electron-microscopic examinations of the tegument of plerocercoids transferred to new hosts showed: in G. aculeatus normal appearance throughout the experiment; in P. pungitius degeneration of the microtrichs after 6 days; and in S. trutta complete destruction of the tegument in 7 days.Plerocercoids of the genus Diphyllobothrium survived the transfer from Gasterosteus aculeatus to Salmo trutta and continued to grow in their new host.Infection of fish with S. solidus by feeding infected copepods and by aspetic injection of procercoids into the body cavity of the fish were also tried. Gasterosteus aculeatus became infected using both these methods but it was not possible to infect Pungitius pungitius.


Parasitology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 369-378 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. CHRISTEN ◽  
M. MILINSKI

Many hermaphroditic parasites reproduce by both cross-fertilization and self-fertilization. To understand the maintenance of such mixed mating systems it is necessary to compare the fitness consequences of the two reproductive modes. This has, however, almost never been done in the context of host–parasite coevolution. Here we show the consequences of outcrossing and selfing in an advanced life-stage of the cestode Schistocephalus solidus, i.e. in its second intermediate host, the three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus). Each juvenile stickleback was simultaneously exposed to 2 experimentally infected copepods, one harbouring outcrossed the other selfed parasites. At 60 days p.i. parasites were removed from the fish's body cavity and, with microsatellite markers, assigned to either outcrossed or selfed origin. Prevalence was not significantly higher in outcrossed parasites. However, those fish that were infected contained significantly more outcrossed than selfed parasites. Thus the probability of a selfed parasite to progress in the life-cycle is reduced in the second intermediate host. Furthermore, we found that even the multiply infected fish increased in weight during the experiment. Nevertheless, total worm weight in multiply infected fish was significantly lower than in singly infected ones, which thus might be a parasite life-history strategy.


1946 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 47-70 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. D. SMYTH

A technique has been elaborated that enabled the plerocercoid larvae of Schistocephalus solidus to be removed from the body cavity of Gasterosteus aculeatus without bacterial contamination. Larvae were cultured in plugged test-tubes under completely aseptic conditions in a variety of balanced salines, glucose salines and nutrient peptone broth. The most successful results were obtained with peptone broth at room temperatures (16-19° C) in which plerocercoids remained active and showed normal behaviour for periods up to 300 days. In ¾ strength Locke's solution, which was found by experiment to be approximately isotonic with Schistocephalus (δ = -0.44 ± 0.02° C), the mean period of normal behaviour was 114 days. In the remaining saline and saline-glucose media, the mean viability and period of normal behaviour was considerably less. In the plerocercoid, histological examination revealed that the genitalia are in an immature condition. During cultivation at room temperatures, the genitalia remained in this undifferentiated condition and showed no signs of undergoing spermatogenesis, oogenesis or vitellogenesis. Plerocercoids were induced to develop into sexually mature adults by raising the temperature of cultivation in peptone broth to 40° C. (i.e. the body temperature of the final host in the natural life cycle). Oviposition took place after 48-60 hr. at this temperature, and histological examination revealed that spermatogenesis, oogenesis, vitellogenesis and shell formation had taken place in a normal manner. The viability of artificially matured Schistocephalus was 4-6 days in vitro--a period equivalent to the viability of the adult in vivo. The eversion of the cirris was observed in each proglottid after 40 hr. cultivation at 40° C. During the sexual process the cirris everted and invaginated at the rate of about once per second. Cross-fertilization between segments of the same worm or with segments of another worm was not observed. Except for one specimen in ¾ strength Locke's solution which underwent spermatogenesis and partial vitellogenesis, larvae cultured in salines or glucose salines at 40° C. died within 1-3 days without further development. Attempts to hatch out the eggs produced by the cultivation of larvae in peptone broth at 40° C. proved unsuccessful. Histological examination revealed that spermatozoa had not been taken into the vagina. It was concluded that the eggs were not fertilized owing to the failure of normal copulation to take place.


Author(s):  
Zdeněk Mačát ◽  
Adam Bednařík ◽  
Martin Rulík

AbstractParasitic relations between animals are very common in wild nature. In this paper, we studied levels of infection in three-spined stickleback with plerocercoids of Schistocephalus solidus from Puck Bay (Baltic Sea, Poland). The total prevalence of infection was 54.2%, while proportion of infected individuals was significantly higher for females than for males. The body width was found to be significantly positively correlated with the number and the weight of parasites. In spite of the increasing deterioration of the Baltic Sea ecosystem by excessive eutrophication and hypoxia, lower prevalence of infection compared to previous published data indicates that there are likely other factors than pollution affecting the life cycle of parasites and the level of parasitism.


Parasitology ◽  
1967 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 301-314 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Arme ◽  
R. Wynne Owen

Infections are described of Gasterosteus aculeatus in a pond at Leeds with the plerocercoid larvae of Schistocephalus solidus.Very heavy infections were found in the summer of 1962 and early 1963; many fish harboured over 50 worms and the maximum was 130.For each individual host the relative percentage parasite-weight to host-weight has been determined (parasitization index). In more than 50% of the fish the P.I. exceeded 25; the maximum value was 68·5. The relationship between P.I., numbers of worms and weight of worms is described.Some effects of parasitization on the host are described; they include gross distension of the body, reduction of liver weight, reduction of packed cell volume of erythrocytes and delay in oocyte maturation. In some heavily parasitized individuals spawning is apparently inhibited.Concurrent infections with the microsporidian Glugea anomala are described.Our thanks are due to Mr A. Rennie, B.Sc., of the Yorkshire Ouse and Hull River Authority for drawing our attention to the source of infected sticklebacks, to Mr A. O. Holliday for the preparation of photographs and to Mr G. R. Standley for assistance in the preparation of the slide shown in PI. 1, fig. 3. We also wish to thank Dr J. N. Ball, Department of Zoology, University of Sheffield, for his helpful comments on the gonads of infected fish, and Professor J. M. Dodd, Department of Zoology, University of Leeds, for providing facilities and much helpful discussion. One of us (C. A.) gratefully acknowledges the receipt of a Science Research Council Research Studentship and Fellowship.


Parasitology ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 124 (4) ◽  
pp. 465-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. T. VAN DER VEEN ◽  
J. KURTZ

The outcome of a parasite infection is the result of the interaction between the host and the parasite. In the system we studied, there are 3 critical stages for the outcome of infection of the (intermediate) host, the copepod Macrocyclops albidus, with the cestode Schistocephalus solidus. During the establishment phase of the parasite, the host may firstly avoid ingesting the parasite and, secondly, may prevent the parasite from entering the body cavity and, thirdly, during the growth phase of the parasite, the host's immune system may eliminate the parasite from the body cavity. We were able to study the growth phase separately from the establishment phase. The establishment phase was influenced by characteristics of the host as well as characteristics of the parasites. Small copepods and males performed poorly; they were more often infected and had a lower survival. Parasites from different sib-groups differed in infectivity. During the growth phase some disappearance of parasites was observed. However, this could not be related to any of the studied characteristics of the host, and the sib-groups of parasites did not seem to differ in their likelihood to disappear. Instead, we suggest that disappearance of parasites, once they have entered the body cavity, may be due to intrinsic mortality of the parasites, independent of the host or the sib-group that the parasites belong to. This indicates that the crucial interactions between host and parasite determining the outcome of infection takes place in the short time-period between ingestion and penetration of the gut-wall.


Parasitology ◽  
1973 ◽  
Vol 67 (2) ◽  
pp. 133-141 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. H. Meakins ◽  
M. Walkey

1. The in vivo growth of Schistocephalus solidus plerocercoids was investigated by surgical implantation of worms into the body cavity of uninfected, recipient sticklebacks. 2. Burdens of one, two and five worms were used. 3. Results show a reduction in parasite growth with both increasing size and increasing numbers of parasites. 4. Reasons for the decrease in growth rate of multiple burdens are discussed and reference is made to the significance of burden size in completion of the life-cycle under natural conditions.


Parasitology ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 146 (1) ◽  
pp. 97-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
David C. Heins ◽  
Kristine N. Moody ◽  
Sophia Miller

AbstractWe performed a long-term natural experiment investigating the impact of the diphyllobotriidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus on the body condition and clutch size (CS) of threespine stickleback Gasterosteus aculeatus, its second intermediate host, and the growth of larval parasites in host fish. We tested the hypothesis that single S. solidus infections were more virulent than multiple infections. We also asked whether the metrics of mean and total parasite mass (proxies for individual and total volume, respectively) were consistent with predictions of the resource constraints or the life history strategy (LHS) hypothesis for the growth of, hence exploitation by, larval helminths in intermediate hosts. The samples were drawn from Walby Lake, Alaska in eight of 11 years. Host body condition and CS (egg number per spawning bout) decreased significantly with intensity after adjustments for host size and parasite index. Thus, infections have an increasingly negative impact on measures of host fitness with greater intensity, in contrast to the hypothesis that single infections are more harmful than multiple infections. We also found that mean parasite mass decreased with intensity while total parasite mass increased with intensity as predicted by the LHS hypothesis.


Parasitology ◽  
2003 ◽  
Vol 126 (4) ◽  
pp. 359-367 ◽  
Author(s):  
I. BARBER ◽  
P. A. SVENSSON

The use of naturally infected hosts in studies attempting to identify parasite-induced changes in host biology is problematical because it does not eliminate the possibility that infection may be a consequence, rather than a cause, of host trait variation. In addition, uncontrolled concomitant infections may confound results. In this study we experimentally infected individual laboratory-bred female three-spined sticklebacks Gasterosteus aculeatus L. with the pseudophyllidean cestode Schistocephalus solidus [Müller], and compared the morphology and growth patterns of infected females with sham-exposed controls over a 16-week period. Fish were fed a ration of 8% body weight per day. Non-invasive image analysis techniques allowed the growth of individual plerocercoids to be tracked in vivo throughout the course of infection, and patterns of host and parasite growth were determined. Females that developed infections diverged morphometrically from unexposed control females and exposed-uninfected females at 6 weeks post-infection, with the width of the body at the pectoral fins giving the earliest indication of infection success. When including the plerocercoid, infected females gained weight more quickly than controls, but when plerocercoid weight was removed this trend was reversed. There was no effect of infection on the increase in fish length. Plerocercoids grew at different rates in individual hosts, and exhibited measurable sustained weight increases of up to 10% per day. Final estimates of plerocercoid weight from morphometric analysis prior to autopsy were accurate to within +/−17% of actual plerocercoid weight. At autopsy, infected female sticklebacks had significantly lower perivisceral fat reserves but had developed significantly larger ovaries than controls. The results are discussed in relation to previous studies examining natural infections, and the value of utilizing experimental infections to examine ecological aspects of host–parasite interactions is discussed.


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