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The transition from an aerobic to an anaerobic energy metabolism in transforming Schistosoma mansoni cercariae occurs exclusively in the head

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

A. M. C. Horemans ,
A. G. M. Tielens  and
S. G. Van Den Bergh
A. M. C. Horemans
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Veterinary Biochemistry, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80176, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands
A. G. M. Tielens
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Veterinary Biochemistry, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80176, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands
S. G. Van Den Bergh
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Veterinary Biochemistry, Utrecht University, P.O. Box 80176, 3508 TD Utrecht, The Netherlands
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Summary

It has been shown that in intact cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni in water, both head and tail had an identical, aerobic energy metabolism. As long as the environment was water, glucose was mainly degraded to carbon dioxide by both head and tail whether or not these two were still connected to each other. Transfer of intact cercariae into a simple salt medium supplemented with glucose resulted in a very rapid transition towards a more anaerobic energy metabolism: the production of lactate and pyruvate increased, whereas the production of carbon dioxide remained more or less constant. A concomitant rise in temperature to 37°C was not essential for this biochemical transition, but made it more pronounced. Experiments on isolated cercarial bodies and tails in a transforming medium demonstrated that the tails oxidized glucose to carbon dioxide, whereas bodies produced mainly pyruvate and lactate. The results showed that the metabolic transition towards a more anaerobic energy metabolism occurred only in the head and not in the tail of the cercariae. Loss of the tail was shown not to be a pre-requisite for this transition, nor did it by itself trigger a metabolic switch in the resulting cercarial body.

Keywords

Schistosoma mansonicercariaeschistosomulatransformation
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 102 , Issue 2 , April 1991 , pp. 259 - 265
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1991

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