Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-23T07:27:45.884Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Ingestion of host blood by the monogenean Pseudodiplorchis americanus: a quantitative analysis

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

K. Tocque  and
R. C. Tinsley
K. Tocque
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
R. C. Tinsley
Affiliation:
School of Biological Sciences, Queen Mary and Westfield College, London University, Mile End Road, London E1 4NS
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Pseudodiplorchis americanus infects the urinary bladder of a desert toad and feeds exclusively on blood, producing the iron-rich waste product haematin. The host, Scaphiopus couchii, retains dilute urine within the urinary bladder as a water store throughout hibernation and parasite waste will therefore not be eliminated. This study utilized atomic absorption spectrophotometry to quantify the iron within the urinary bladders of infected and uninfected toads after different periods of hibernation. During the first 4 months hibernation, no detectable iron, above that of the controls, was found in the urine and bladder tissue of infected animals, but after 5–6 months hibernation there was a small but not significant increase. The iron contained within most individual parasites was greater than that detected in the urine and bladder tissue of the host, and the total iron in each parasite infrapopulation was 3–83 times greater than the urinary bladder iron. This suggests that the parasites do not regurgitate their gut contents during host hibernation. The amount of iron in individual parasites increased with time after migration to the bladder and this was used to estimate the amount of blood ingested by P. americanus. At a controlled temperature of 25 °C, the estimated rate of ingestion increased from 0·33 μl blood/parasite/week by worms 2 weeks post-migration to a maximum of around 1·6 μl by worms 5 months post-migration. The rate of blood ingestion by older worms was also calculated as a function of the hibernation period (since this did not correspond to worm age) assuming complete gut evacuation at the start of hibernation. This provided maximum estimates of ingestion rate of 1·9–5·3 μl blood/parasite/week.

Keywords

Pseudodiplorchis americanusMonogeneablood ingestionhaematin
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 104 , Issue 2 , April 1992 , pp. 283 - 289
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1992

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

Allen, K. M. (1984). Ultrastructural adaptations of the host–parasite interface of polystomatid monogeneans. Ph.D. thesis, University of London.Google Scholar
Halton, D. W. (1967). Observations on the nutrition of digenetic trematodes. Parasitology 57, 639–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halton, D. W. (1974). Hemoglobin absorption in the gut of a monogenetic trematode, Diclidophora merlangi. Journal of Parasitology 60, 59–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halton, D. W. (1975). Intracellular digestion and cellular defecation in a monogenean, Diclidophora merlangi. Parasitology 70, 331–40.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halton, D. W. (1976). Diclidophora merlangi: sloughing and renewal of haematin cells. Experimental Parasitology 40, 41–7.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Halton, D. W. (1982). X-ray microanalysis of pigment granules in the gut of Diclidophora merlangi. Zeitschrift für Parasitenkunde 68, 113–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Halton, D. W. & Jennings, J. B. (1965). Observations on the nutrition of monogenetic trematodes. Biological Bulletin 129, 257–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jackson, H. C. (1987). The role of blood in helminth nutrition. Helminthological Abstracts, A 56, 427–33.Google Scholar
Jackson, H. C. & Tinsley, R. C. (1988). Environmental influences on egg production by the monogenean Protopolystoma xenopodis. Parasitology 97, 115–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jennings, J. B. (1956). A technique for the detection of Polystoma integerrimum in the Common Frog (Rana temporaria). Journal of Helminthology 30, 119–20.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jennings, J. B. (1959). Studies on digestion in the monogenetic trematode Polystoma integerrimum. Journal of Helminthology 33, 197–204.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jones, V. E. & Ogilvie, B. M. (1971). Protective immunity to Nippostrongylus brasiliensis: the sequence of events which expels worms from the rat intestine. Immunology 20, 549–61.Google ScholarPubMed
Kearn, G. C. (1963). Feeding in some monogenean skin parasites: Entobdella soleae on Solea solea and Acanthocotyle sp. on Raia clavata. Journal of the Marine Biological Association of The United Kingdom 43, 749–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawrence, J. D. (1973). Ingestion of red blood cells by Schistosoma mansoni. Journal of Parasitology 59, 60–3.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Love, R. J., Ogilvie, B. M. & McLaren, D. J. (1976). The immune mechanism which expels the intestinal stage of Trichinella spiralis from rats. Immunology 30, 7–15.Google ScholarPubMed
McClanahan, L. Jr (1967). Adaptations of the spadefoot toad Scaphiopus couchi to desert environments. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 20, 73–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McClanahan, L. Jr (1972). Changes in body fluids of burrowed spadefoot toads as a function of soil water potential. Copeia 1972 (2), 209–16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Middler, S. A., Kleeman, R. & Edwards, E. (1968). Influence of MS222 on fluid and salt metabolism of the toad Bufo marinus. Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology 24, 1065–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shoemaker, V. H., McClanahan, L. & Ruibal, R. (1969). Seasonal changes in body fluids in a field population of spadefoot toads. Copeia 1969, 585–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Smyth, J. D. & Halton, D. W. (1983). The Physiology of Trematodes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. (1973). Ultrastructural studies on the form and function of the gastrodermis of Protopolystoma xenopi (Monogenoidea: Polyopisthocotylea). Biological Bulletin 144, 541–55.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. & Earle, C. (1983). Invasion of vertebrate lungs by the polystomatid monogeneans Pseudodiplorchis americanus and Neodiplorchis scaphiopodis. Parasitology 86, 501–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tinsley, R. C. & Jackson, H. C. (1986). Intestinal migration in the life-cycle of Pseudodiplorchis americanus (Monogenea). Parasitology 93, 451–69.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tocque, K. (1990). The reproductive strategy of a monogenean parasite in a desert environment. Ph.D. thesis, London University.Google Scholar
Tocque, K. & Tinsley, R. C. (1991). The influence of desert temperatures cycles on the reproductive biology of Pseudodiplorchis americanus (Monogenea). Parasitology 103, 111–20.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wikel, S. K. (1988). Immunological control of hematophagous arthropod vectors: utilisation of novel antigens. Veterinary Parasitology 29, 235–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Willadsen, P. & Kemp, D. H. (1988). Vaccination with ‘concealed’ antigens for tick control. Parasitology Today 4, 196–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Williams, H. H. (1967). Helminth diseases of fish. Helminthological Abstracts, A 36, 261–95.Google Scholar