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Egg-shell permeability and hatching of Ascaris suum

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 April 2009

A. J. Clarke
Affiliation:
Nematology Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2JQ
R. N. Perry
Affiliation:
Nematology Department, Rothamsted Experimental Station, Harpenden, Herts, AL5 2JQ

Summary

When eggs of Ascaris suum were transferred from glass-distilled water into 0·1–0·4 m NaCl solutions, the water content of the unhatched juveniles fell with increasing concentration of solute. The effect was reversible. The egg-shell was thus permeable to water. The osmotic pressure of the egg fluid was osmotically equivalent to between 0·1 and 0·2 m trehalose. In hatching experiments in Fairbairn's medium containing 0·1 or 0·2 m trehalose, only 5 and 3% respectively of the eggs hatched; 83% of the eggs hatched in the absence of trehalose. The evidence suggests that loss of solutes from the egg fluid permits an increase in the water content of the unhatched juveniles and that this may be responsible for ending their quiescence.

Information

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1980

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