Carbohydrate reserves and phosphatase activity in the mollusc-trematode relationship of Mytilus edulis L. and Proctoeces maculatus (Looss, 1901) Odhner, 1911.

Abstract

AbstractBiochemical and histochemical techniques were employed to study tissue distribution, and concentrations of carbohydrate reserves and phosphatase activity in uninfected Mytilus edulis and specimens parasitized byProctoeces maculatus. Glycogen was stored in the mantle, hepatopancreas, labial palps and mesosomal Leydig cells of the mussel, and in the body parenchyma of post-miracidial stages of the trematode. The glycogen content of the mantle and hepatopancreas increased steadily from January to a maximum level in June and then declined sharply to a minimum level in December. No differences were observed in the annual glycogen cycle of infected and uninfected mussels. Starvation of mussels at a temperature conducive to high metabolic activity of the worms resulted in a rapid decline in the glycogen content of infected mussels by the first week of starvation. A stable glycogen concentration was maintained for 4 weeks by starved uninfected mussels. The distribution of acid phosphatase activity in the tissues ofM. edulisandP. maculatuswas greater than that of alkaline phosphatase activity, but increased alkaline phosphatase activity was observed in the haemolymph of mussels infected with adultP. maculatus.