Worm Gut Research Articles

Antibody response to a purified parasite proteinase (SMw32) in Schistosoma mansoni infected mice.

Indirect immunofluorescence of Schistosoma mansoni adult worm sections has revealed that the early immunoglobulin response is directed toward the parasite digestive tract. One of the components of the worm gut is a cysteine proteinase which degrades host hemoglobin ingested by the parasite. In this report the purified proteinase (SMw32) was used in ELISA and immunoblot analyses to study the specific antibody response during the course of an acute infection. We have found high titer IgG antibody in S. mansoni infected, but not uninfected, mice. The anti-proteinase response involves IgM, IgG1, IgG2a, and IgE isotypes. Total IgM and IgG levels increased by week 3 post-infection and remained elevated throughout the study (7 weeks). Increased titers (IgM, IgG) of specific anti-proteinase were also apparent by week 3 post-infection, long before fecal eggs were detectable. Mean anti-proteinase IgG stabilized at high titer by week 5 post-infection, while IgM titers decreased to near background levels. Anti-proteinase IgE was first detectable at week 4 and reached peak titers by weeks 6 and 7. The strong antibody response to the purified SMw32 proteinase is consistent with the early reactivity of S. mansoni infected mice and humans to a 31 kDa component of the worm gut described by others.

Immunocytolocalization of Two Protection-Inducing Antigens of Trichinella spiralis during Its Enteral Phase in Immune and Non-Immune Mice

Monoclonal antibodies (mAb) recognizing epitopes on the 48K (beta stichocyte specific) and the 50/55K antigen (alpha stichocyte specific) were used as first ligands for immunocytolocalization on de-paraffinized sections of infected gut tissue of non-immune and immune CFW strain mice. The enteral phase was studied at 6, 14, 23, 30 hr and 7 days after initiation of infection via the oral route, times corresponding in worm development to the first (L1), second (L2), and third (L3) stage larva and adult. No change in the intensity of the immune reaction with either mAb was noted in parasites developing within immune or non-immune mice for any of the time-points studied. The 48K and the 50/55K antigens were present within the stichocytes at 6 hr. Enterocytes adjacent to some worms also stained positive for both epitopes at this time. Throughout worm development, the amount of each antigen within the worm diminished, until almost none was left at 30 hr. At day 7, the 48K antigen was present within a few stichocyte cells, the canalicular tree, and within the lumen of the midgut. The 50/55K antigen at this time point was localized within only a few stichocyte granules and on the lining of the worm's gut. Embryo stages did not possess either the 48K or 50/55K epitopes. A marked increase in cells bearing IgG in the lamina propria was noted in immune mice when compared with their non-immune counterparts.

The onchocercal nodule: interrelationship of adult worms and blood vessels.

This study of onchocercal nodules reveals an intimate relationship between the cuticle of Onchocerca volvulus and the capillaries of the host. Perfusion of blood vessels with India ink and other special techniques reveal a proliferation of capillaries around the worms and communication between small vessels and the spaces around the worms. The space around the worm is continuous with the central fibrin lake. These findings, together with the fact that the worm's gut contains hemosiderin, suggest that the worm subverts the vascular reaction and causes within the nodule a controlled hemorrhage that serves the worm's nutritional needs. We believe this explains, in part, how worms survive in fibrous nodules for many years.

Insect immunity. Attacins, a family of antibacterial proteins from Hyalophora cecropia.

Six closely related antibacterial proteins, attacins A-F, were isolated from the hemolymph of immunized pupae of the Cecropia moth, Hyalophora cecropia. Chromatofocusing separated attacins A-F, with isoelectric points between 5.7 and 8.3. Immunological experiments show that the attacins constitute antibacterially active forms of the previously isolated inducible immune protein P5. Their mol. wts., 20-23 K, are similar to that of protein P5, but significantly lower than 28 K found for preP5 synthesized in vitro (see accompanying paper). The six attacins can be divided into two groups according to their amino acid composition and amino-terminal sequences, attacins A-D constitute a basic group and attacins E and F an acidic one. Within each group the forms are very similar. The attacins efficiently killed Escherichia coli and two other Gram-negative bacteria isolated from the gut of a silk worm but they did not act on other Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria tested. Only growing cells of E. coli were attacked; cells suspended in phosphate buffer were inert. Besides the cecropins and lysozyme, the attacins represent a third class of antibacterial proteins in the humoral immune system of H. cecropia.

Effect of dietary tetrapyrroles on gut pigmentation and perienteric fluid hemoglobin concentration in Ascaris lumbricoides

Ascaris lumbricoides was maintained for 46 days in three pigs fed diets enriched with different metalloporphyrins. Diets, host gut contents, and washed worm guts were differentially extracted for carotenoids, bile pigments, porphyrins and metalloporphyrins, and extracts were compared by spectrophotometric and qualitative chemical tests. Host gut contents from a control diet with no added porphyrin contained carotenoids and bilirubin; worms from this host contained bilirubin and an unidentified metalloporphyrin. An alfalfa-enriched diet yielded phaeophytin A in host gut contents, while worm gut tissue contained an unidentified metalloporphyrin different from the controls. Host gut contents and worms from a blood meal-enriched diet both contained protoheme IX; perienteric fluid concentration in these worms (0·211 mM) was five times that of the other groups. The presence of metalloporphyrins in guts of worms reared on linear tetrapyrroles suggests the ability to convert these compounds to heme.

Micro-Organisms in the Intestines of Earthworms

SUMMARY Actinomycetes and bacteria, but not fungi, increase rapidly in numbers during the passage of food through the worm gut. Enzymes produced by the worm rather than micro-organisms seem to be the main agents digesting cellulose and chitin. The rate that material moves through the intestine depends on whether the animal is feeding; food takes about 20 hr. to pass, but when burrows are being formed material passes in about 12 hr.

Observations on the Sporozoa Inhabiting the Gut of the Polychaete Worm Polydora flava Claparède

1. A detailed description is given of a coccidian which parasitises the nuclei of the intestinal cells of the polychaete worm Polydora flava Claparède. The final stages in sporogony have not been observed; nevertheless, this is the first record, from an annelid worm, of an eimeriid which shows a striking resemblance to those Coccidia occurring in the higher animals. It is also the first record of an intranuclear parasite from an annelid.2. From the gut of the same worm, a new species of Selenidium is described. It differs from all other species, hitherto recorded, in the possession of an axial tube, which completely encloses the nucleus and extends from one end of the organism to the other: hence it is proposed to name this organism Selenidium axiferens. The anterior end of the trophozoite shows a circlet of siderophilous bodies, which Ray (1930 a) has shown to be characteristic of the genus.3. Both uninucleate and multinucleate intracellular forms, with polar groups of chromatic globules, have been discovered in great abundance on six occasions; no merozoites have been found, but evidence is submitted to show that these intracellular forms represent the schizogonic phase in the life-cycle of the Selenidium.4. Sporogony follows closely that described for other species, but the final stages have not been observed. The gametocysts measure 48 × 50–70 × 63μ.5. Association and cyst formation are described in Polyrhabdina polydorae Caul. & Mesn. (?) for the first time. Innumerable nuclei make their appearance in each gametocyte, before ejection of the cysts into the sea-water takes place. Gametocysts can easily be distinguished from those of Selenidium axiferens, not only by their morphology, but also by their greater size (98 × 90–105 × 100μ).