Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-19T02:49:35.781Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Development of the vitellaria of the liver fluke, Fasciola hepatica in the rat host

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 February 2003

M. W. ROBINSON ,
L. M. COLHOUN ,
I. FAIRWEATHER ,
G. P. BRENNAN  and
J. H. WAITE
M. W. ROBINSON
Affiliation:
Fascioliasis Research Group, The School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland
L. M. COLHOUN
Affiliation:
Fascioliasis Research Group, The School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland
I. FAIRWEATHER
Affiliation:
Fascioliasis Research Group, The School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland
G. P. BRENNAN
Affiliation:
Fascioliasis Research Group, The School of Biology and Biochemistry, The Queen's University of Belfast, Belfast BT9 7BL, Northern Ireland
J. H. WAITE
Affiliation:
Marine Science Institute, University of California, Santa Barbara, California 93106, USA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The development of the vitellaria of Fasciola hepatica within the liver of its rat host was studied by means of whole-mount stained preparations and transmission electron microscopy, together with light and electron immunocytochemistry using an antibody to vitelline protein B, an eggshell precursor protein synthesized by F. hepatica. No vitelline cells could be identified in flukes recovered from the liver parenchyma, by any of the methods used. In contrast, follicles were present in flukes at the earliest time of recovery from the bile duct, namely, 5 weeks 3 days post-infection. The vitellaria in these flukes formed a row of small follicles on either side of the body. Development of the follicles was rapid: by 6 weeks 3 days, the vitellaria resembled those in the adult fluke and eggs were present in the uterus. Immunolabelling was confined to the shell protein globules in the vitelline cells, confirming the packaging of the eggshell protein within the shell globule clusters.

Keywords

Fasciola hepaticavitellaria developmentimmunocytochemistrytransmission electron microscopyelectron immunocytochemistrywhole-mount histochemistry
Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 123 , Issue 5 , November 2001 , pp. 509 - 518
Copyright
© 2001 Cambridge University Press

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.)