The Anaerobic Glycogen Consumption in Ascaris Females and Males

Abstract

Our knowledge of whether in ascarids the differences in the morphology of the sexes are combined with differences in chemical composition and metabolism, is very poor. Faur&-Fremiet (1913) states that one compound of the ether extract, the ascarylalcohol, is only found in females. Toryu (1932) finds that the females of Parascaris equorum (Ascaris megalocephala) store more glycogen than the males. He states that in starvation experiments the former can use 64 per cent and the latter 75 per cent of the stored glycogen and that the anaerobic CO2 output is more marked in the females. Under aerobic conditions the gaseous exchange is more pronounced in males than in females, both in Ascaris lumbricoides and Parascaris equorum (Harwood and Brown, 1934; Toryu, 1934). The present investigation has been undertaken in order to solve some questions concerning the carbohydrate metabolism of both sexes in Ascaris lumbricoides from the pig. As Ascaris is deprived of oxygen most of the time under natural conditions (v. Brand and Weise, 1932), the experiments have been performed under anaerobic conditions (hydrogen stream passing through the container). The worms were freshly collected for each experiment from the slaughterhouse. They were washed with saline, rapidly wiped dry with filter paper, weighed and kept in I.I per cent NaCl solution in