An Isolated Nerve-Muscle Preparation from Ascaris Lumbricoides

1947 ◽  
Vol 23 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 277-291
Author(s):  
ERNEST BALDWIN ◽  
VIVIEN MOYLE
Keyword(s):  
Ascaris Lumbricoides ◽  
Body Fluid ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Physiological Activity ◽  
Surrounding Medium ◽  
The Body ◽  
Muscle Preparation ◽  
Nerve Muscle

1. A technique is described for the preparation from the body wall of Ascaris of semi-isolated strips of muscle. These strips are exposed on one side to the surrounding medium and are suitable for studies of the action of anthelminthic and other drugs upon the exposed musculature. 2. A medium suitable for use in such experiments has been devised and its preparation is described. 3. Media made up to represent the body fluid of Ascaris fail to support physiological activity in the exposed muscle strips, and it seems that this perienteric fluid does not correspond to the true milieu intérieur of this nematode. 4. Some new observations on the nature and composition of the perienteric fluid are presented incidentally in the text.

Studies on the Physiology of Ascaris Lumbricoides

1952 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-29
Author(s):  
A. D. HOBSON ◽  
W. STEPHENSON ◽  
A. EDEN
Keyword(s):  
Ascaris Lumbricoides ◽  
Body Fluid ◽  
External Medium ◽  
Chloride Concentration ◽  
The Body ◽  
Considerable Proportion ◽  
Limiting Factor ◽  
Inorganic Cations ◽  
Sodium And Potassium ◽  
Total Concentrations

The results obtained in this investigation are admittedly not as extensive as is desirable but they allow certain conclusions to be drawn. 1. The sodium and potassium contents of the body fluid of Ascaris lumbricoides are somewhat variable, but these variations do not seem to be dependent upon those of the external medium. 2. The calcium and magnesium contents of the body fluid are relatively constant and are not affected by those of the external medium. 3. The chloride concentration of the body fluid is closely related to and always remains lower than that of the external medium. 4. As shown in Table 2, there is a large gap between the total concentrations of inorganic cations and anions in the intestinal fluid of the pig. Presumably a considerable proportion of the inorganic cations are combined with organic anions, at present undetermined. Exposing the worms to saline media composed of chloride caused a large rise in the internal chloride concentration. This may well be a limiting factor in the life of the animals in such media, and the next step forward would seem to be the fuller analysis of the environment to which they are normally exposed.

The Mechanism of Proboscis Movement in Arenicola

1954 ◽  
Vol s3-95 (30) ◽  
pp. 251-270
Author(s):  
G. P. WELLS
Keyword(s):  
Body Fluid ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
The Body ◽  
Stage I ◽  
Stage Iii ◽  
Forward Movement ◽  
Arenicola Marina ◽  
Buccal Mass ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Longitudinal Muscles

The mechanism of proboscis movement is analysed in detail in Arenicola marina L. and A. ecaudata Johnston, and discussed in relation to the properties of the hydrostatic skeleton. Proboscis activity is based on the following cycle of movements in both species. Stage I. The circular muscles of the body-wall and buccal mass contract; the head narrows and lengthens. Stage IIa. The circular muscles of the mouth and buccal mass relax; the gular membrane (or ‘first diaphragm’ of previous authors) contracts; the mouth opens and the buccal mass emerges. Stage IIb. The longitudinal muscles of the buccal mass and body-wall contract; the head shortens and widens and the pharynx emerges. Stage III. As Stage I. The two species differ anatomically and in their hydrostatic relationships. In ecaudata, the forward movement of body-fluid which extrudes and distends the proboscis is largely due to the contraction of the gular membrane and septal pouches. In marina, the essential mechanism is the relaxation of the oral region which allows the general coelomic pressure to extrude the proboscis. The gular membrane of marina contracts as that of ecaudata does, but its anatomy is different and it appears to be a degenerating structure as far as proboscis extrusion is concerned. Withdrawal of the proboscis may occur while the head is still shortening and widening in Stage IIb, or while it is lengthening and narrowing in Stage III. The proboscis is used both in feeding and in burrowing; in the latter case nothing enters through the mouth; the difference is largely caused by variation in the timing of withdrawal relative to the 3-stage cycle.

Serological responses to Ascaris suum adult worm antigens in Iberian finisher pigs

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (2) ◽  
pp. 167-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. Frontera ◽  
F. Serrano ◽  
D. Reina ◽  
M. Alcaide ◽  
J. Sánchez-López ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Adult Worm ◽  
Body Fluid ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Ascaris Suum ◽  
The Body ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
Molecular Weights ◽  
Young Pigs ◽  
Density Values ◽  
Intestinal Worm

AbstractAdult Ascaris suum were dissected to obtain different worm components (body wall, body fluid, ovaries, uterus and oesophagus) which were used as antigens when testing 95 sera of naturally A. suum-infected Iberian pigs by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot (WB). Pigs with patent Ascaris infections had significantly lower ELISA optical density values than pigs without adult worms when using the body fluid and the body wall as antigens. A poor negative correlation was found between adult intestinal worm burden or eggs in faeces and specific antibody responses, measured by ELISA and WB using all antigens. By WB, the recognition of specific bands was variable, but three groups of bands with molecular weights of 97 kDa, 54–58 kDa and 42–44 kDa were generally recognized by sera from naturally infected pigs as well as from hyperimmunized pigs when using the five antigen extracts. The ELISA and WB techniques may be used for immunodiagnosis, using somatic adult worm antigens, to declare young pigs to be Ascaris-free but cannot be used for individual Ascaris-diagnosis in adult Iberian pigs.

Rates of reaction of Ascaris haemoglobins with ligands

1965 ◽  
Vol 163 (991) ◽  
pp. 206-214 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Nitric Oxide ◽  
Carbon Monoxide ◽  
Ascaris Lumbricoides ◽  
Kinetic Data ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Equilibrium Constants ◽  
Activation Energies ◽  
The Body ◽  
Ph Values ◽  
Round Worm

The combination of the body wall and perienteric fluid haemoglobins of the pig round worm, Ascaris lumbricoides , with oxygen, carbon monoxide, and nitric oxide has been followed over a range of temperature and pH values. The rates for the perienteric fluid haemoglobin were NO: 4.7 x 10 6 M -1 S -1 ; O 2 : 1.5 x 10 6 ; CO: 1.7 x 10 5 . The rates for body-wall haemoglobin were 30% less in each case. The rate of dissociation of carbon monoxide is 0.018 S -1 at 20 °C for the perienteric fluid haemoglobin and 0.039 for the body-wall haemoglobin. These rates are similar to those for mammalian haemoglobin. As was already known, the velocity of dissociation of oxygen from these haemoglobins is much lower. The velocity of dissociation for perienteric fluid haemoglobin was difficult to study because of the presence of methaemoglobin. The rates of all the reactions studied were close to those which would be predicted from the activation energies if the reactions were assumed to be kinetically normal. Over-all equilibrium constants for the reactions with oxygen and carbon monoxide have been calculated from the kinetic data. The half-saturation value for the perienteric fluid haemoglobin at 20 °C is 0.0015 mm Hg O 2 . The value for the body-wall haemoglobin is 0.11 mm . The ratio of the oxygen and the carbon monoxide equilibrium constants, M , is 0.075 for perienteric fluid haemoglobin and 0.82 for body-wall haemoglobin. Neither of these values conforms to the relation between log 10 M and the span of haemoglobin observed for mammalian haemoglobins and myoglobin.

scholarly journals On the Cœlomic Cilia and Circulation of the Body-Fluid in Tomopteris helgolandica

1929 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 271-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Anton Meyer
Keyword(s):  
Body Fluid ◽  
Surrounding Medium ◽  
The Body ◽  
Sense Organs

The œcological significance of cilia and ciliary currents has been studied hitherto mainly so far as they are connected either with the epidermis or with the intestine. Epidermal cilia produce currents by which either the animal itself is moved or the surrounding medium is carried over the surface of the unmoved animal. In the latter case the ciliary currents serve for collecting substances, ordinary food and oxygen. It may be said, that the degree of specialisation of epidermal cilia generally indicates the degree of intimate dependence of the animal on its outside conditions (natural surroundings). (The cases where epidermal cilia are connected with sense organs are comparatively few.)

The Giant Fibre Reflex of the Earthworm, Lumbricus Terrestris L

1962 ◽  
Vol 39 (2) ◽  
pp. 219-227
Author(s):  
M. B. V. ROBERTS
Keyword(s):  
Nerve Cord ◽  
Lumbricus Terrestris ◽  
The Body ◽  
Muscle Preparation ◽  
Direct Stimulation ◽  
Giant Fibre ◽  
Low Threshold ◽  
Giant Fibres ◽  
Nerve Muscle ◽  
Stimulation Of

1. A nerve-muscle preparation including the longitudinal musculature and the giant fibres in the nerve cord of the earthworm is described. 2. Direct stimulation of the nerve cord with single shocks of increasing intensity results in two types of response: (a) a low threshold, very small twitch, resulting from a single impulse in the median giant fibre, and (b) a higher threshold, slightly larger twitch, resulting from single impulses in the median and lateral giant fibres. Both responses are highly susceptible to fatigue. 3. Stimulation of the body surface evokes a much more powerful contraction which is associated with a burst of impulses in the giant fibre. The strength of the contraction depends upon the number of impulses in the burst and this in turn upon the intensity and duration of the stimulus.

The identification and estimation of acetylcholine in three parasitic nematodes (Ascaris lumbricoides, Litomosoides carinii, and the microfilariae of Dirofilaria repens)

Parasitology ◽  
1955 ◽  
Vol 45 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 287-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Helen Mellanby
Keyword(s):  
Ascaris Lumbricoides ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Nerve Ring ◽  
The Body ◽  
Dirofilaria Repens ◽  
Parasitic Nematodes ◽  
Wet Weight

1. Extracts made from whole nematode worms, Litomosoides carinii, and from Ascaris ‘heads’ and body wall tissue, contain a substance similar to acetylcholine.2. In the case of extracts from Litomosoides whole worms, this substance was shown to be probably acetylcholine itself.3. Tissue from the anterior end of Ascaris (including the nerve ring), contains about 15 times as much acetylcholine as the body wall preparations; i.e. 0·39μg./g. as compared with 0·025μg/g. of wet weight.4. There appeared to be rather more acetylcholine present in the Litomosoides males than in the females; 0·92μg./g. as compared with 0·63μg./g. of wet weight.5. The microfilariae of the filariid nematode of the dog, Dirofilaria repens, contain as much as 2·4;μg./g. of acetylcholine. In this respect it resembles some other motile parasites of the blood, such as trypanosomes.

scholarly journals The haemoglobins of Nippostrongylus muris (Yokagawa) and Strongylus spp

1949 ◽  
Vol 136 (883) ◽  
pp. 271-280 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Ascaris Lumbricoides ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
The Body ◽  
High Oxygen ◽  
Parascaris Equorum ◽  
Oxygen Equilibrium ◽  
Number Of Species ◽  
Parasitic Worms

From time to time, in connexion with work on the metabolism of parasitic nemaodes, attention has been drawn to the presence of haemoglobin in a number of species. Aducco (1889) observed that the red colour of Dioctophyme renale is due to a pigment resembling vertebrate haemoglobin. More recently haemoglobin has been recorded in Ascaris lumbricoides and Parascaris equorum (Keilin 1925), in Nematodirus, Ostertagia and other Trichostrongylidae of sheep (Davey 1938) and in Camallanus (Wharton 1938). Among tissue parasites the pigment was demonstrated y Stannard, McCoy & Latchford (1938) in Trichinella larvae and by v. Brand (1937) in a larval Eustrongylides from the mesentery of Fundulus. The presence of haemoglobins in parasitic worms has been suggested as evidence that they were essential to supply oxygen to the oxidative systems (Davey 1938; Brand 1938). But not all authors presented evidence that the haemoglobins they observed were different from the haemoglobin of the host. Keilin (1925), however, observed that Ascaris lumbricoides contains two haemoglobins which could be distinguished spectroscopically from each other and from the host haemo­globin. These pigments were re-examined by Davenport (1949) and were found to have extremely high oxygen affinities, the consequence of a very low deoxygenation velocity. The oxygen equilibrium relations of the haemoglobins could not be determined directly but it was shown that Ascaris is capable of bringing about deoxygenation of the body-wall haemoglobin when kept under anaerobic con­ditions. Similarly Aducco (1889) observed that the haemoglobin of Dioctophyme is extremely resistant to deoxygenation in vacuo .

Studies on the Physiology of Ascaris Lumbricoides

1952 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-21
Author(s):  
A. D. HOBSON ◽  
W. STEPHENSON ◽  
L. C. BEADLE
Keyword(s):  
Osmotic Pressure ◽  
Body Fluid ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Sea Water ◽  
External Medium ◽  
Chloride Concentration ◽  
The Body ◽  
Intestinal Fluid ◽  
The Difference ◽  
Saline Medium

1. The total osmotic pressure, electrical conductivity and chloride concentration of the body fluid of Ascaris lumbricoides and of the intestinal contents of the pig have been measured. 2. The results obtained agree with the observations of previous workers that Ascaris normally lives in a hypertonic medium and that it swells or shrinks in saline media which are too dilute or too concentrated. 3. Experiments comparing the behaviour of normal and ligatured animals show that both the body wall and the wall of the alimentary canal are surfaces through which water can pass. 4. 30% sea water has been used as a balanced saline medium for keeping the worms alive in the laboratory. This concentration was selected as being the one in which there was least change in the body weight of the animals exposed to it. 5. The osmotic pressure of the body fluid of worms kept in 30% sea water is approximately the same as in animals taken directly from the pig's intestine. The body fluid of fresh worms is hypertonic to 30% sea water and hypotonic to the intestinal fluid. In 30% sea water the normal osmotic gradient across the body wall is therefore reversed. 6. In 30% sea water the total ionic concentration (as measured by the conductivity) decreases slightly, but the chloride concentration increases by about 50%, although still remaining much below that of the external medium. 7. Experiments in which the animals were allowed to come into equilibrium with various concentrations of sea water from 20 to 40% show that there are corresponding changes in the osmotic pressure of the body fluid which is, however, always slightly above that of the saline medium. The conductivity also changes in a similar manner but is always less than that of the medium, and the difference between the two becomes progressively greater the more concentrated the medium. 8. The chloride concentration of the body fluid varies with but is always below that of the external medium, whether this is intestinal fluid or one of the saline media. In the latter the difference between the internal and external chloride concentrations is least in 20% sea water and becomes progressively greater as the concentration of the medium is increased. 9. Experiments with ligatured worms and with eviscerated cylinders of the body wall show that these share the capacity of the normal worm to maintain the chloride concentration of the body fluid below that of the environment. This power is not possessed by cylinders composed of the cuticle alone. 10. If the worms which have had their internal chloride concentration raised by exposure to 30% sea water are transferred to a medium composed of equal volumes of 30% sea water and isotonic sodium nitrate solution, the chloride concentration of the body fluid is reduced to a value below that of the external medium. This phenomenon is also displayed by worms ligatured after removal from the 30% sea water and, to an even more marked degree, by eviscerated cylinders of the body wall. 11. It is concluded that Ascaris is able to maintain the chloride concentration of the body fluid below that of the external medium by an process of chloride excretion against a concentration gradient, and that this mechanism is resident in the body wall, the cuticle being freely permeable to chloride.

scholarly journals The haemoglobins of Ascaris Lumbricoides

1949 ◽  
Vol 136 (883) ◽  
pp. 255-270 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Temperature Coefficient ◽  
Absorption Spectra ◽  
Ascaris Lumbricoides ◽  
Body Wall ◽  
Reducing Agent ◽  
The Body ◽  
Partial Purification ◽  
Back Reaction ◽  
Anaerobic Conditions

The occurrence of distinct haemoglobins in the perienteric fluid and body wall of Ascaris is confirmed and methods described for the extraction and partial purification of the pigments. The absorption spectra of the haemoglobins and their principal derivatives were determined. Both haemoglobins possess a remarkable resistance to deoxygenation. This is due principally to a low deoxygenation velocity. In presence of Na 2 S 2 O 4 at 20.5°C, pH 6, t 50 for the deoxygenation of the perienteric fluid haemoglobin is 150 sec. compared with 0.008 sec. for sheep haemoglobin (Hartridge & Houghton 1923). With the body-wall haemoglobin the reaction is more rapid; t 50 at pH 6, 3°C, is 80 ± 10 sec. The deoxygenation reaction is accurately unimolecular and is independent of the con­centration of the reducing agent. With perienteric fluid haemoglobin the temperature coefficient of the reaction is 5 and the velocity is increased with increase of pH between 5 and 9. The velocity of conversion of the oxyhaemoglobins to methaemoglobin in presence of K 3 Fe(CN ) 6 was measured. In vacuo t 50 is the same as for the deoxygenation reaction but diverges from unimolecular characteristics beyond half completion. Although the velocity is independent of the ferricyanide concentration, a measurable back reaction with O 2 occurs. CO dissociates from both haemoglobins more rapidly than oxygen; 300 times more rapidly with perienteric fluid haemoglobin at pH 6, 3°C. When Ascaris is kept under anaerobic conditions the body-wall haemoglobin becomes deoxygenated but no change could be detected in the perienteric fluid haemoglobin.

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