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Immunocytochemical demonstration of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) and vertebrate neuropeptides in the nervous system of excysted cysticercoid larvae of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea)

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Abstract

The localisation and distribution of 5-hydroxytryptamine (5-HT, or serotonin) and a number of vertebrate neuropeptides in the nervous system of excysted (0–24 h) cysticercoid larvae of Hymenolepis diminuta were determined by an indirect immunofluorescence technique in wholemount preparations. In the central nervous system, cell bodies and nerve fibres immunoreactive to 5-HT are present in the main commissure, lateral and rostellar ganglia, and the longitudinal nerve cords and their connectives. In the peripheral nervous system, immunoreactive nerve fibres occur in a poorly developed nerve plexus within each sucker. Among the vertebrate peptides tested, antisera to pancreatic polypeptide (PP), polypeptide YY (PYY), peptide histidine isoleucine (PHI) and gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) gave positive results. Immunoreactivity to PP and PYY paralleled that of 5-HT, with greater numbers of cell bodies present in the different locations within the scolex nervous system, and the sucker plexus being more prominent. The number of PP-reactive cells in the lateral ganglia and main lateral, longitudinal nerve cords increased over the 24-h period in culture. Results with antisera of different specificities to PP and PYY suggest that the immunoreactivity may be due to a peptide with closer structural affinity to PYY than to PP. Immunoreactivity to PHI is restricted to the main lateral nerve cords in the body of 0-h worms, extending into the median nerve cords by 12 h and 24 h. Immunoreactivity to GRP became evident after 12 h in culture and was confined to the longitudinal nerve cords, in particular the median nerve cords. The results are discussed in relation to the proposed transmitter and regulatory roles of 5-hydroxytryptamine and the neuropeptides.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, The Queen's University, BT7 1NN, Belfast, Northern Ireland

    I. Fairweather, G. A. Macartney & D. W. Halton

  2. Department of Medicine, The Queen's University, BT7 1NN, Belfast, Northern Ireland

    C. F. Johnston & K. D. Buchanan

Authors
  1. I. Fairweather
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  2. G. A. Macartney
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  3. C. F. Johnston
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  4. D. W. Halton
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  5. K. D. Buchanan
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Fairweather, I., Macartney, G.A., Johnston, C.F. et al. Immunocytochemical demonstration of 5-hydroxytryptamine (serotonin) and vertebrate neuropeptides in the nervous system of excysted cysticercoid larvae of the rat tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta (Cestoda, Cyclophyllidea). Parasitol Res 74, 371–379 (1988). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00539460

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