Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-m9pkr Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T20:20:30.088Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Distribution and pathogenicity of Tetrahymena limacis in the slug Deroceras reticulatum*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

E. H. Michelson
E. H. Michelson
Affiliation:
Department of Tropical Public Health, Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, 02115
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The distribution of Tetrahymena limacis in its natural host Deroceras reticulatum, and the tissue responses to infection are described. Contrary to previous observations, T. limacis occurred throughout the tissues and organs of its host; the organisms were especially numerous in the kidney, the mantle shield, and in grossly visible papules on the external epithelium. Aspirates from such papules yielded numerous ciliates.

T. limacis elicited a considerable pathologic response and appeared to contribute to an increase in morbidity and mortality among slugs. Tissue responses were focal (fibrotic encapsulation of isolated organisms) and diffuse (necrosis, mechanical tissue destruction, and metaplasia). Efforts to establish infection in seven species of molluscs other than D. reticulatum were unsuccessful.

An extramolluscan cyst stage of T. limacis is reported for the first time. Both resting and reproductive cysts were observed. Since free-swimming trophozoites of T. limacis are not long lived, the organism is more likely an obligate rather than a facultative parasite of molluscs. Observations also suggest that slugs are infected via the respiratory pore rather than orally.

It is a pleasure to acknowledge the aid and counsel given by Dr J. O. Corliss in identifying the ciliate and to Miss Lorin DuBois for technical assistance.

Type
Research Article
Information
Parasitology , Volume 62 , Issue 1 , February 1971 , pp. 125 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1971

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

REFERENCES

Corliss, J. O. (1953). Silver impregnation of ciliated protozoa by the Chatton-Lwoff technique. Stain Technology 28, 97–100.Google Scholar
Corliss, J. O. (1959). Current composition of the genus Tetrahymena Furgason, 1940. Journal of Protozoology 24 (Suppl.), 24.Google Scholar
Corliss, J. O. (1960). Tetrahymena chironomi sp.nov., a ciliate from midge larvae, and the current status of facultative parasitism in the genus Tetrahymena. Parasitology 50, 111–53.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Corliss, J. O., Smith, A. C. & Foulkes, J. (1962). A species of Tetrahymena from the British garden slug Milax budapestensis. Nature 196, 1008–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozloff, E. N. (1946). The morphology and systematic position of a holotrichous ciliate parasitizing Deroceras agreste (L.). Journal of Morphology 79, 445–65.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kozloff, E. N. (1956 a). Experimental infection of the gray garden slug, Deroceras reticulatum (Müller), by the holotrichous ciliate Tetrahymena pyriformis (Ehrenberg). Journal of Protozoology 3, 17–19.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozloff, E. N. (1956 b). A comparison of the parasitic phase of Tetrahymena limacis (Warren) with clones in culture, with particular reference to variability in the number of primary ciliary meridians. Journal of Protozoology 3, 20–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozloff, E. N. (1956 c). Tetrahymena limacis from the terrestrial pulmonate gastropods Monadenia fidelis and Prophysaon andersoni. Journal of Protozoology 3, 204–8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kozloff, E. N. (1957). A species of Tetrahymena parasitic in the renal organ of the slug Deroceras reticulatum. Journal of Protozoology 4, 75–9.Google Scholar
Michelson, E. H. (1966). Specificity of hemolymph antigens in taxonomic discrimination of medically important snails. Journal of Parasitology 52, 466–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Roeder, K. (ed.) (1953). Insect Physiology. New York: Wiley and Sons.Google Scholar
Warren, E. (1932). On a ciliate protozoan inhabiting the liver of a slug. Annals of the Natal Museum 7, 1–53.Google Scholar
Windsor, D. A. (1959). Colopoda steinii and Tetrahymena limacis in several terrestrial pulmoante gastropods collected in Illinois. Journal of Protozoology 6 (Suppl.), 33.Google Scholar
Windsor, D. A. (1960). Morphological changes exhibited by Tetrahymena limacis upon isolation from three newly discovered hosts. Journal of Protozoology 7 (Suppl.), 27.Google Scholar