Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-dh8gc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-03T05:42:18.196Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Schistosoma mansoni: male stimulation and DNA synthesis by the female

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

J. E. Den Hollander  and
D. A. Erasmus
J. E. Den Hollander
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University College, Cardiff, Wales
D. A. Erasmus
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, University College, Cardiff, Wales
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Summary

Unisexual females, (80–100 days post-infection) were cultured in vitro and exposed to mature male worms from either mixed or single-sex infections. A comparison was made of the uptake of [3H]thymidine (used as a marker for DNA synthesis) by isolated unisexual females or by those females exposed to males derived from either mixed or unisexual infections during in vitro culture. All males were observed to be paired with females by approximately 18 h post-culture. At 24 h post-culture females paired with males from mixed infections had an elevated uptake of [3H]thymidine compared to females that had not paired and uptake was also significantly different (P ≥ 0–001) from females exposed to males from unisexual infections. By 48 h there was no significant difference between uptake in females paired with either type of male. The frequency of uptake in the paired females was approximately double that in unstimulated females while non-paired females in the presence of males had an increase of between 35 nd 45%. In a second experiment the effect of depriving a mature egg-laying female of the paired male was investigated. These females had a continual decrease in uptake of [3H]thymidine compared to mature females maintained with male partners. The uptake of [3H]thymidine was used as a marker for DNA synthesis and the effect of the male worm on DNA synthesis in the unisexual female is discussed in view of the above results.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 91 , Issue 3 , December 1985 , pp. 449 - 457
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

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

Armstrong, J. C. (1965). Mating behaviour and development of schistosomes in the mouse. Journal of Parasitology 51, 605–16.Google Scholar
Atkinson, B. G. & Atkinson, K. H. (1980). Biochemical basis for the continuous copulation of female Schistosoma mansoni. Nature, London 283, 478–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bell, E. J. & Smyth, J. D. (1958). Cytological and histochemical criteria for evaluation of development of trematodes and pseudophyllidian cestodes in vivo and in vitro. Parasitology 48, 131–49.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Carlisle, S., Weisberg, L. S. & Bentley, A. G. (1983). Schistosoma mansoni: morphological changes induced by maintenance in vitro. Journal of Parasitology 69, 319–34.Google Scholar
Clough, E. R. (1981). Morphology of reproductive organs and oogenesis in bisexual and unisexual transplants of mature Schistosoma mansoni females. Journal of Parasitology 67, 535–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Coelho, P. M. Z., Souza, R. C. A., Bredt, A. & Souza-Neto, J. A. (1976). The crowding effect in Schistosoma mansoni infection of hamsters: influence on worm size. Revista Instituto de Medicina Tropical de Sao Paulo 18, 440–2.Google Scholar
Cornford, E. M. & Huot, M. E. (1981). Glucose transfer from male to female schistosomes. Science 213, 1269–71.Google Scholar
Den Hollander, J. E. & Erasmus, D. A. (1984). Schistosoma mansoni: DNA synthesis in males and females from mixed and single-sex infections. Parasitology 88, 463–76.Google Scholar
Duvall, R. H. & Dewitt, W. D. (1967). An improved technique for recovering adult schistosomes from laboratory animals. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 16, 483–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erasmus, D. A. (1973). A comparative study of the reproductive system of mature, immature and unisexual female Schistosoma mansoni. Parasitology 67, 165–83.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gönnert, R. (1955). Schistosomiasis studies. II. Über die Eibildung bei Schistosoma mansoni und das Schicksal der Eier im Wirtorganismus. Zeitschrift für Tropenmedizin und Parasitologie 6, 33–52.Google Scholar
Grimaldo, De E. P. & Kershaw, W. E. (1961). Results obtained by intensive exposure of white mice to Schistosoma mansoni infection. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 55, 107–11.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lennox, R. W. & Schiller, E. L. (1972). Changes in dry weight and glycogen content as criteria for measuring the post-cercarial growth and development of Schistosoma mansoni. Journal of Parasitology 58, 489–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Popiel, I. & Basch, P. F. (1984 a). Putative polypeptide transfer from male to female Schistosoma mansoni. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 11, 179–88.Google Scholar
Popiel, I. & Basch, P. F. (1984 b). Reproductive development of female Schistosoma mansoni following bisexual pairing of worms and worm segments. Journal of Experimental Zoology 232, 141–50.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Popiel, I., Cioli, D. & Erasmus, D. A. (1984). The morphology and reproductive status of female Schistosoma mansoni following separation from male worms. International Journal for Parasitology 14, 183–90.Google Scholar
Shaw, J. R. & Erasmus, D. A. (1981). Schistosoma mansoni: an examination of the reproductive status of females from single-sex infections. Parasitology 82, 121–4.Google Scholar
Shaw, J. R., Marshall, I. & Erasmus, D. A. (1977). Schistosoma mansoni: chemical stimulation in vitro and the development of the vitelline cell. Experimental Parasitology 42, 14–20.Google Scholar
Smithers, S. R. & Terry, R. J. (1965). The infection of laboratory hosts with cercariae of Schistosoma mansoni and the recovery of the adults worms. Parasitology 55, 695–700.Google Scholar
Standen, O. D. (1953). The relationship of sex in Schistosoma mansoni to migration within the hepatic portal system of experimentally infected mice. Annals of Tropical Medicine and Parasitology 47, 139–45.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Warren, K. S. (1972). The immunopathogenesis of schistosomiasis: a multi-disciplinary approach. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 66, 417–34.Google Scholar