Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-nmvwc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-29T01:18:29.197Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Studies of Litomosoides carinii by Phase-contrast microscopy: the Development of the Larvae

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 November 2009

James A. McFadzean
Affiliation:
National Institute for Medical Research, London
J. Smiles
Affiliation:
National Institute for Medical Research, London

Extract

The development of the microfilariae of Litomosoides carinii from the ova, has been studied by phase-contrast microscopy, and recorded with photomicrographs. All stages in the development were obtained by puncturing the uteri of adult female worms at intervals along their lengths, transferring the larvae which emerged onto agar coated slides and allowing the weight of a coverglass to flatten them sufficiently for detailed examination.

The head and the tail end of the larva were differentiated at a fairly early stage and about the same time a hook-like structure appeared on the head. Subsequently a body cavity was formed within the larva which was associated with the appearance of highly refractile subcuticular cells. Later this cavity became filled with different types of cells.

Throughout its development the larva was enclosed within a membrane which was later stretched by the movement of the larva to form the sheath of the microfilaria. All the microfilariae from the adult female worms, from the pleural fluid, and from the peripheral blood of the large number of infected cotton rats examined, were seen by phase-contrast microscopy to have sheaths.

Type
Research Papers
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1956

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

Augustine, D. L., 1937.—“Observations on living “sheathed” microfilariae in the capillary circulation.” Trans. R. Soc. trop. Med. Hyg., 31, 55. (W.L. 21671.)Google Scholar
Austin, C. R. and Smiles, J., 1948.—“Phase-contrast microscopy in the study of the fertilization of the rat egg.” J. R. micr. Soc., 68, 13. (W.L. 11360.)Google Scholar
Chandler, A. C., Alicata, J. E. and Chitwood, M. B., 1940. in “An introduction to nematology”, Babylon, N.Y., Section II, Part II, Chapt. VI., 289.Google Scholar
Christenson, R. O., 1940. in “An introduction to nematology”, Babylon. N.Y., Section I, Part III, Chapt. XII, 180.Google Scholar
Cross, J. B. and Scott, J. A., 1947.—“The developmental anatomy of the fourth stage larvae and adults of Litomosoides carinii, a filarial worm of the cotton rat.” Trans. Amer. micr. Soc., 66, 1. (W.L. 21400.)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Culbertson, J. T. and Rose, H. M., 1944.—“Chemotherapy of filariasis in the cotton rat by administration of Neostam.” Science, 99, 245. (W.L. 19938.)CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Foshay, L., 1947.—“The cuticular morphology of some common microfilariae.” Amer. J. trop. Med., 27, 233. (W.L. 626.)Google Scholar
Fulleborn, F., 1929. in “Kolle and Wassermann's Handbuch der pathogen Mikroorganismen3rd. Ed., 6, 1043, Jena: Fischer; Berlin, Wien; Urban u. Schwarzenberg.Google Scholar
Hawking, F. and Sewell, P., 1948.—“The maintenance of a filarial infection (Litomosoides carinii) for chemotherapeutic investigations”. Brit. J. Pharmacol., 3, 285. (W.L. 3569a.)Google Scholar
Kershaw, W. E., 1948.—“Observations on Litomosoides carinii (Travassos, 1919) Chandler 1931. 1. The development of the first-stage larva.” Ann. trop. Med. Parasit., 42, 377. (W.L. 1063.)CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Penel, R., 1904.—Les filaires du sang de l'homme, Paris.Google Scholar
Stefanopoulo, G. J., Ovazza, M. and Bessis, M., 1949.—“Utilisation du microscope à contraste de phase et de la méthode de l'ombrage en parasitologie. Application à l'étude de quelques microfilaries sanguicoles.” C. R. Soc. Biol., Paris, 143, 767. (W.L. 6630.)Google Scholar