Occurrence and distribution of trehalose and glycogen in the eggs and tissues of Ascaris lumbricoides

Abstract

Trehalose was isolated from unembryonated Ascaris eggs following chromatography of hot-water extracts on a charcoal-celite column. The average amount of glycogen and trehalose per 100 g of decoated egg solids was 7.8 and 7.9 g, respectively (expressed as glucose). Together these two alkali-stable saccharides comprised 95% of the total egg carbohydrates. In the embryonated infective egg trehalose (7.4%) occurred chiefly in the perivitelline fluid whereas glycogen (6.9%) was confined to the embryo. Trehalose was present in muscle, integument, ovaries and uteri of adult females, but not in the intestine. In all these tissues glycogen was the predominant carbohydrate. The distribution of carbohydrates in adult male tissues was similar, except that trehalose was the predominant carbohydrate in the testis and seminal vesicle.