[Karyometric analysis of selected neurohormonal cells of the snail Lymnaea stagnalis (L.) under conditions of natural infection with digenetic trematode parthenites]

Abstract

To supply more documentary evidence for the effect of parasitic infection on activity of neurosecretory centres in the cerebral ganglia of the snail host, caudo-dorsal and light green cells of adult individuals of Lymnaea stagnalis naturally infected with digenean parthenites were subjected to karyometric analysis. In infected animals significant enlargement of nuclear volumes of both examined types of neurosecretory cells was ascertained. Mean nuclear volume of the light green cells in snails infected with Furocercariae was significantly lower in comparison with the individuals infected with parthenites from groups Echinostomata and Xiphidiocercariae. In remaining cases differences in nuclear volumes among subpopulations distinguished on the ground of an infection factor were not statistically significant.