Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-vdxz6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-28T12:33:14.880Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Osmotic relations of some metazoan parasites

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

N. Kesava Panikkar  and
Nora G. Sproston
N. Kesava Panikkar
Affiliation:
From the Marine Biological Laboratory, Plymouth
Nora G. Sproston
Affiliation:
From the Marine Biological Laboratory, Plymouth
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

1. The osmotic behaviour of three parasites in normal and experimental media has been studied with a view to understanding the relationship with their hosts.

2. Angusticaecum sp., a nematode frpm the intestine of the tortoise, is hypertonic in media of very low concentrations (1·1–1·3 % NaCl in tap water), but becomes isotonic in sea water and slightly hypertonic in 50 % sea water. Ligaturing experiments show that its cuticle is permeable to water and probably to salts.

3. Lernaeocera branchialis, a blood-feeding copepod from Gadus spp., is hypotonic to the surrounding sea water so long as it remains attached to its host, its blood showing an osmotic pressure equivalent to 2·O–2·8 % NaCl. Isotonicity with the medium is established when the parasite is excised and kept alive. Hypotonicity of Lernaeocera is probably caused by the low osmotic pressure of the blood of its host (1·443 % NaCl in Gadus pollachius), to which it is permanently attached.

4. Bopyrus squillarum, a blood-sucking isopod from Leander serratus, is isotonic or slightly hypotonic to sea water, the tendency towards hypotonicity being probably the result of the hypotonic nature of the blood of the host.

5. The osmotic properties of Lerpaeocera and Bopyrus would suggest their ability to survive in dilute sea water, a fact which is supported by their occurrence on hosts living in inshore or estuarine habitats.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 33 , Issue 2 , May 1941 , pp. 214 - 223
Copyright
Copyright Cambridge University Press 1941

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

Baldes, E. J. (1934). A micromethod of measuring osmotic pressure. J. sci. Instrum. 11, 223–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chopra, B. N. (1923). Bopyrid Isopods on Indian Decapod Macrura. Rec. Indian Mus. 25, 411–550.Google Scholar
Dekhuyzen, M. C. (1904). Ergebnisse von osmotischen Studien, namentlich bei Knochenfischen. Bergens Mus. Aarb. 8, 1–7.Google Scholar
Herfs, A. (1922). Die pulsierende Vakuole der Protozoen, ein Schutzorgan gegen Aussüssung. Studien über Anpassung der Organismen an das Leben im Süsswasser. Arch. Protistenk. 44, 227–60.Google Scholar
Krogh, A. (1939). Osmotic Regulation in Aquatic Animals, pp. 1–242. Cambridge.Google Scholar
Mathias, P. (1938). Sur la résistance de Palaemon squilla L. et de Crangon vulgaris F. à la diminution de salure de l'eau. Bull. Soc. zool. Fr. 63, 337–43.Google Scholar
Mueller, J. F. (1928). Studies on the microscopical anatomy and physiology of Ascaris lumbricoides and Ascaris megalpcephala. Z. Zellforsch. 8, 361–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panikkar, N. K. (1940 a). Osmotic properties of the common prawn. Nature, Lond., 145, 108.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Panikkar, N. K. (1940 6). Osmoregulation of Palaemonid prawns. (Unpublished.)Google Scholar
Schopper, W. H. (1932). Recherches physicochimiques sur le milieu intérieur de quelques parasites. Première Partie. Rev. Suisse Zool. 39, 59–114.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schuurmans, , Stekhovek, J. H. Jr. (1936). Beobaohtungen zur Morphologic und Physiologie der Lernaeocera branchialis L. und der Lemaeocera lusci Basset-Smith (Crustacea Parasitica). Z. Parasitenk. 8, 659–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sohuurmans, , Stekhoven, J. H. Jr. & Punt, A. (1937). Weitere Beitrage zur Morphologie und Physiologie der Lemaeocera branchialis L. Z. Parasitenk. 9, 648–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Scott, A. (1901). Lepeophtheirus and Lernaea. L.M.B.C. Memoirs, 6, 1–54.Google Scholar
Westbald, E. (1922). Zur Physiologie der Turbellarien, II. Die Exkretion. Acta Univ. Lund. 18, No. 6, 101–212.Google Scholar
Wilson, C. B. (1917). North American parasitic copepods belonging to the Lernaeidae with a revision of the entire family. Proc. U.S. not. Mus. 53, 1–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar