Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-18T07:43:46.116Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Studies on the mechanism of lysis of Echinococcus granulosus protoscoleces incubated in normal serum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2009

M. D. Rickard
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College, London
L. M. Mackinlay
Affiliation:
Welcome Research Laboratories, Beckenham, Kent
G. J. Kane
Affiliation:
Welcome Research Laboratories, Beckenham, Kent
R. M. Matossian
Affiliation:
American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon
J. D. Smyth
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College, London

Abstract

Brood capsules were obtained from freshly collected cysts of equine and ovine strains of Echinococcus granulosus. Protoscoleces were freed from brood capsules either by mechanical disruption or pepsin-HCl digestion. Preparations of protoscoleces studied included: mechanically released protoscoleces without further treatment, or incubated either in HCl pH 2·0 or in evaginating solution (containing Na taurocholate) for 24 h; pepsin-HCl released protoscoleces without further treatment or incubated in evaginating solution for 24 h or 7 days. Half of each preparation of ovine protoscoleces was fixed in absolute methanol.

All fresh preparations of protoscoleces lysed rapidly when incubated in normal human serum. Studies with a fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC) labelled sheep anti-human C3 antiserum revealed the presence of C3 on the surface of lysing protoscoleces. Antibody could not be detected on the surface of any of the preparations of fresh or methanol-fixed protoscoleces using direct or indirect fluorescent antibody tests suggesting that the classical pathway of complement activation was not involved in the lytic process. Strong evidence for lysis by the alternate pathway of complement activation was the lysis of protoscoleces which had been treated with pepsin-HCl and lysis of protoscoleces in guinea-pig serum deficient in C4 component of complement.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1977

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

Clegg, J. A. (1972) The schistosome surface in relation to parasitism. In 10th Symposium of the British Society for Parasitology (eds. Taylor, A. E. R and Muller, R). Blackwell: Oxford. pp. 2340.Google Scholar
Coltorti, E. A. and Varela-Diaz, V. M. (1972) IgG levels and host specificity in hydatid cyst fluid. Journal of Parasitology, 58, 753756.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coltorti, E. A. and Varela-Diaz, V. M. (1974) Echinococcus granulosus: penetration of macromolecules and their localization on the parasite membrances of cysts. Experimental Parasitology, 35, 225231.Google Scholar
Gazzinelli, G., Ramalho-Pinto, F. J. and Dias Da Silva, W. (1969) Schistosoma mansoni: generation of anaphylotoxin by cercarial extracts. Experimental Parasitology, 26, 8691.Google Scholar
Götze, C. and Muller-Eberhard, H. J. (1971) The C3-activator system: an alternative pathway of complement activation. Journal of Experimental Medicine, 134, 9051085.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hammerberg, B., Musoke, A. J., Hustead, S. T. and Williams, J. F. (1976) Anticomplementary substances associated with taeniid metacestodes. Pathophysiology of parasitic infection (ed. Soulsby, E. J. L). Academic Press: New York. pp. 323–240.Google Scholar
Herd, R. P. (1976) The cestocidal effect of complement in normal and immune sera in vitro. Parasitology, 72, 325334.Google Scholar
Kassis, A. I., Goh, S. L. and Tanner, C. E. (1976) Lesions induced by complement in vitro on the protoscoleces of Echinococcus multilocularis: A study by electron microscopy. International Journal for Parasitology, 6, 199211.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kassis, A. I. and Tanner, C. E. (1976) The role of complement in hydatid disease: in vitro studies. International Journal for Parasitology, 6, 2535.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kassis, A. I. and Tanner, C. E. (1977) Host serum proteins in Echinococcus multilocularis: Complement activation via the classical pathway. Immunology (in press).Google Scholar
Kusel, J. R. (1970) The penetration of human epidermal sheets by cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni and collection of schistosomula. Parasitology, 60, 8996.Google Scholar
Machado, A. J., Gazzinelli, G., Pellegrino, J. and Dias Da Silva, W. (1975) Schistosoma mansoni: The role of complement C3-Activating system in the cercaricidal action of normal serum. Experimental Parasitology, 38, 2029.Google Scholar
Matossian, R. M., Rickard, M. D. and Smyth, J. D. (1977) Hydaticlosis: A global problem of increasing importance. Bulletin of the World Health Organization (in press).Google Scholar
Morseth, D. (1967) The fine structure of the cyst and the protoscolex of Echinococcus granulosus. Journal of Parasitology, 53, 312325.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nelson, R. A. Jr. (1965) In The Inflammatory Process. (eds. Zweifach, , McClusky, and Grant, ). Academic Press: New York.Google Scholar
Panaitesco, D. (1965) Contribution à l’étude de la fluorescence primaire du kyste hydatique. Archives Roumaines de Pathologie Expérimentale et de Microbiologie, 24, 459466.Google Scholar
Smith, J. H., Reynolds, E. C. and Von Lichtenberg, R. (1969) The integument of Schistosoma mansoni. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 18, 2849.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Smyth, J. D. (1962) Studies on tapeworm physiology. X. Axenic cultivation of the hydatid organism, Echinococcus granulosus; establishment of a basic technique. Parasitology, 52, 441457.Google Scholar
Smyth, J. D. (1969) The physiology of the cestodes. Oliver and Boyd Ltd.: Edinburgh and London.Google Scholar
Smyth, J. D. and Davies, Z. (1974) In vitro culture of the strobilar stages of Echinococcus granulosus (sheep strain): a review of basic problems and results. International Journal for Parasitology, 4, 631644.Google Scholar
Stirewalt, M. A. (1963) Cercariae vs schistomule (Schistosoma mansoni): Absence of the peripheral envelope in vivo and the early physiological and histological metamorphosis of the parasite. Experimental Pathology, 13, 395406.Google Scholar
Yamashita, J., Obayashi, M., Sakamoto, T. and Orihara, M. E. (1962) Studies on echinococcosis. XIII. Observation on the vesicular development of the scolex of Echinococcus multilocularis in vitro. Japanese Journal of Veterinary Research, 10, 8596.Google Scholar