Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-rdxmf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-24T12:30:52.309Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Effects of larval Digenea on the free amino acid pool of Littorina littorea (L.)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Stuart D. M. Watts
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, The University of Southampton, Southampton SO9 5NH

Extract

Quantitative chromatographic analysis of the free amino acids of the head–foot muscle of uninfected and infected Littorina littorea indicates that there is specific variation in the physiological effects of parasitism. The total concentration of free amino acids in the host head–foot muscle showed an increase of 10·9% with infections of Cryptocotyle lingua rediae, a decrease of 12·7% with infections of Himasthla leptosoma rediae and a decrease of 57·5% with infections of Cercaria emasculans sporocysts. These effects probably depend on three main factors namely, the nature, size and mobility of the larvae of the three species concerned and the influence of these factors in determining the extent of any damage to the hepatopancreas of the host.

The larvae of C. lingua are probably less affected by the changes they induce in the free amino acid pool of the host than the larvae of H. leptosoma and Cercaria emasculans which induce changes equivalent to starvation.

This work was conducted during the tenure of a Science Research Council Studentship. I would like to thank Professor B. John and Mr A. R. Hockley for their helpful advice and criticism.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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

Brand, T. Von., Mcmahon, P. & Nolan, M. O. (1957). Physiological observations on starvation and dessication of the snail Australorbis glabratus. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. 113, 89102.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheng, T. C. (1963). Biochemical requirements of larval trematodes. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 113, 289320.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Collyer, D. M. (1961). Differences revealed by paper partition chromatography between the gastropod Nassarius reticulatus (L.) and a specimen believed to be N. nitida (Jeffreys). Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 41, 683–93.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kendall, S. B. (1964). Some factors influencing the development of trematodes in their molluscan hosts. In Host-Parasite Relationships in Invertebrate Hosts, 5173. Ed. Taylor, A. E. R.. Oxford: Blackwell Scientific Publications.Google Scholar
Kendall, S. B. (1965). Relationships between the species of Fasciola and their molluscan hosts. Advances in Parasitology 3, 5998.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kittredge, J. S., Simonsen, D. G., Roberts, E. & Jelinek, B. (1962). Free amino acids of marine invertebrates. In Amino Acid Pools, 176–86. Ed. Holden, J. T.. Amsterdam, London and New York: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Meyerhof, E. & Rothschild, M. (1940). A prolific trematode. Nature 146, 367–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Negus, M. R. S. (1968). The nutrition of the sporocysts of the trematode Cercaria doricha Rothschild, 1935 in the molluscan host Turritella communis Risso. Parasitology 58, 355–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rees, W. J. (1936). The effects of parasitism by larval trematodes on the tissues of Littorina littorea L. Proceedings of the Zoological Society of London 106, 357–68.Google Scholar
Rothschild, M. (1942). A seven-year-old infection of Cryptocotyle lingua Creplin, in the winkle Littorina littorea L. Journal of Parasitology 28, 350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Simpson, J. W., Allen, K. & Awapara, J. (1959). Free amino acids in some aquatic invertebrates. Biological Bulletin. Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. 117, 371–81.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Targett, G. A. T. (1962). The amino acid composition of blood from snail hosts of schistosomiasis. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 56, 61–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Watts, S. D. M. (1970). The amino acid requirements of the rediae of Cryptocotyle lingua and Himasthla leptosoma and the sporocyst of Cercaria emasculans Pelseneer, 1900. Parasitology 61, 491–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar