Hostname: page-component-7479d7b7d-t6hkb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-07-11T21:24:09.150Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Microspines on Schistosoma japonicum and S. haematobium egg shells*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

Bertram Schnitzer
Affiliation:
Departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thomas Sodeman
Affiliation:
Departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
William A. Sodeman Jr
Affiliation:
Departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
Thomas Durkee
Affiliation:
Departments of Pathology and Internal Medicine, The University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Extract

Microspines 0·05 μm long and 0·002 μm in diameter at the base have been demonstrated on the egg shells of S. japonicum. They are protrusions of the shell but are structured into inner and outer layers of differing electron density.

Spines observed on the shell of S. haematobium can be flexed by contact with host cell membranes. Firm, perhaps binding, contact is suggested. The spine length serves to define a space between the shell wall and the host cell membrane which could represent the primary interface of host parasitic contact.

Type
Research Article
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

Hockley, D. J. (1968). Small spines on the egg shells of Schistosoma. Parasitology 58, 367–70.Google Scholar
Race, G. J., Michaels, R. M., Martin, J. H., Larsh, J. R. Jr & Matthews, J. L. (1969). Schistosoma mansoni eggs: An electron microscopic study of shell pores and microbarbs. Proceedings of the Society for Experimental Biology and Medicine 130, 990–2.Google Scholar
Reynolds, E. S. (1963). The use of lead citrate at high pH as an electron-opaque stain in electron microscopy. Journal of Cell Biology 17, 208–12.Google Scholar
Stenger, R. J., Warren, N. S. & Johnson, E. A. (1967). An ultrastructural study of hepatic granulomas and schistosome egg shells in murine hepatosplenic Schistosomiasis mansoni. Experimental and Molecular Pathology 7, 116–32.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed