Uptake of macromolecules by cercariae during skin penetration and transformation to schistosomula (Schistosoma mansoni)

• Main Authors: Joyce Thornhill, John Kusel, Fabricia Alvisi de Oliviera, Fabio Ribeiro, Symone Fulgêncio Lima, Paulo Marcos Zech Coelho, Paul McVeigh, Ana Carolina Alves Mattos
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2010-07-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: Schistosoma mansoni; membrane impermeant Lucifer Yellow; nephridiopore; host; linoleic acid
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762010000400007

Here, we observed the uptake of membrane-impermeant molecules by cercariae as they penetrate the skin and are transformed into schistosomula. We propose that membrane-impermeant molecules, Lucifer Yellow, Propidium iodide and Hoechst 33258 enter the parasite through both thenephridiopore and the surface membrane and then diffuse throughout the body of the parasite. We present a hypothesis that the internal cells of the body of the schistosomulum represent a new host-parasite interface, at which skin-derived growth factors may stimulate receptors on internal membranes during transformation of the cercariae into the schistosomulum.