Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-5nwft Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-19T06:58:11.559Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Activity, ageing and penetration of hookworm larvae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Neil A. Croll
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College, London University, London, S.W. 7
Bernard E. Matthews
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology and Applied Entomology, Imperial College, London University, London, S.W. 7

Extract

Lipid levels of infective larvae of Ancylostoma tubaeforme are reduced and their behavioural activity declines with age. We have measured behavioural activity using the percentage active, rate of activity, and the percentage of larvae able to penetrate a membrane. Neostigmine bromide, a cholinergic drug, increased larval activity in all tests. Larvae, stored at 4 and 10 °C and in hypertonic saline, were inactive but consumed lipid. When returned to isotonic saline at 26 °C, these larvae were no more active than those at 26 °C throughout. We found no evidence that such inactive larvae had entered a state of quiescence. All our results, and those of other workers, have been used to emphasize that larval ageing is related directly to decreased metabolic rates, and not primarily to lipid levels.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1973

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

Barrett, J., (1968). Lipids of the infective and parasitic stages of some nematodes. Nature, London, 218, 1267–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Barrett, J., (1969). The effect of ageing on the metabolism of the infective larvae of Strongyloides ratti. Sandground, 1925. Parasitology 59, 317.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, F. E., (1969). Ancylostoma caninum food reserves and changes in chemical composition with age in third stage larvae. Experimental Parasitology 24, 18.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cooper, A. F. Jr, & Van Gundy, S. D., (1971). Senescene, quiescence, and cryptobiosis. In Plant Parasitic Nematodes, ed. Zuckerman, B. M., Mai, W. F., and Rohde, R. A., vol. II, London and New York: Academic Press. 297318.Google Scholar
Costello, L. C., & Grollman, S., (1958). Oxygen requirements of Strongyloides papillosus infective larvae. Experimental Parasitology 7, 312–27.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Croll, N. A., (1970). Sensory basis of activation in nematodes. Experimental Parasitology 27, 350–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Croll, N. A., (1972). Energy utilization of infective Ancylostoma tubaeforme larvae. Parasitology 64, 355–68.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Croll, N. A., & Al-Hadithi, I. A. W., (1972). Sensory basis of activity in Ancylostoma tubaeforme infective larvae. Parasitology 64, 279–91.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Croll, N. A., & Smith, J. M., (1972). Mechanism of thermopositive behaviour in larval hookworms. Journal of Parasitology 58, 891–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Erlanger, M., & Gershon, D., (1970). Studies on aging in nematodes. II. Studies of the activities of several enzymes as a function of age. Experimental Gerontology 5, 1319.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gershon, D., (1970). Studies on aging in nematodes. II. The nematodes as a model organism for ageing research. Experimental Gerontology 5, 712.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gershon, H., & Gershon, D., (1970). Detection of inactive enzyme molecules in ageing organisms. Nature, London 227, 1214–17.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Matthews, B. E., (1972a). An in vitro system for investigating the skin-penetrating mechanism of larval helminths. Transactions of the Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene 66, 14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Matthews, B. E., (1972b). Invasion of skin by larvae of the cat hookworm, Ancylostoma tubaeforme. Parasitology 66, 457–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Payne, F. K., (1923). Investigations in the control of hookworm disease. XXX. Studies on factors involved in migration of hookworm larvae in the soil. American Journal of Hygiene 3, 547–83.Google Scholar
Rogers, W. P., (1939). The physiological ageing of ancylostome larvae. Journal of Helminthology 17, 195202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, W. P., (1940). The physiological ageing of the infective larvae of Haemonchus contortus. Journal of Helminthology 18, 183–92.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Gundy, S. D., Bird, A. F., & Wallace, H. R., (1967). Ageing and starvation of larvae in Meloidogyne javanica and Tylenchus semipenetrans. Phytopathology 57, 559–71.Google Scholar
Wilson, P. A. G., (1965). Changes in lipid and nitrogen content of Nippostrongylus brasiliensis infective larvae aged at a constant temperature. Experimental Parasitology 16, 190–4.CrossRefGoogle Scholar