[Studies On Lactic Dehydrogenase Activity In Parasitic Helminths]

Tandem Mass Tagging (TMT) Reveals Tissue-Specific Proteome of L4 Larvae of Anisakis simplex s. s.: Enzymes of Energy and/or Carbohydrate Metabolism as Potential Drug Targets in Anisakiasis

Anisakis simplex s. s. is a parasitic nematode of marine mammals and causative agent of anisakiasis in humans. The cuticle and intestine of the larvae are the tissues most responsible for direct and indirect contact, respectively, of the parasite with the host. At the L4 larval stage, tissues, such as the cuticle and intestine, are fully developed and functional, in contrast to the L3 stage. As such, this work provides for the first time the tissue-specific proteome of A. simplex s. s. larvae in the L4 stage. Statistical analysis (FC ≥ 2; p-value ≤ 0.01) showed that 107 proteins were differentially regulated (DRPs) between the cuticle and the rest of the larval body. In the comparison between the intestine and the rest of the larval body at the L4 stage, 123 proteins were identified as DRPs. Comparison of the individual tissues examined revealed a total of 272 DRPs, with 133 proteins more abundant in the cuticle and 139 proteins more abundant in the intestine. Detailed functional analysis of the identified proteins was performed using bioinformatics tools. Glycolysis and the tricarboxylic acid cycle were the most enriched metabolic pathways by cuticular and intestinal proteins, respectively, in the L4 stage of A. simplex s. s. The presence of two proteins, folliculin (FLCN) and oxoglutarate dehydrogenase (OGDH), was confirmed by Western blot, and their tertiary structure was predicted and compared with other species. In addition, host–pathogen interactions were identified, and potential new allergens were predicted. The result of this manuscript shows the largest number of protein identifications to our knowledge using proteomics tools for different tissues of L4 larvae of A. simplex s. s. The identified tissue-specific proteins could serve as targets for new drugs against anisakiasis.

Paragonimus and paragonimiasis in Korea

The lung fluke, Paragonimus, and lung fluke disease, were reviewed, especially on the works performed in Korea. Among 43 species of Paragonimus recorded in the world literature, P. westermani, P. pulmonalis, and P. iloktsuenensis are known to distribute in Korea. Biological studies on P. westermani have revealed that its snail intermediate host is Semisulcospira spp. and major second intermediate hosts are crabs such as Eriocheir japonicus and E. sinensis or crayfish such as Cambaroides similis and C. dauricus. The final hosts other than man are dogs, cats, pigs, and wild animals. Paragonimiasis has been known to distribute widely over the south Korea, however, the prevalence among people and intermediate hosts is gradually decreasing in recent years. In Korean people, the lung fluke have caused pulmonary infections in a great many of cases but as well extrapulmonary ones including cerebral, spinal, subcutaneous, hepatic, splenic, abdominal, urinary, gynecologic, and other types. The definite diagnosis of paragonimiasis can be executed by the recovery of eggs from sputum or feces of patients, however, immunological methods such as intradermal test, complement-fixation test, precipitin reactions, immunofluorescent techniques, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) are greatly helpful for egg-negative or extrapulmonary cases. Various drugs have been introduced for the treatment of paragonimiasis, and among them, bithionol, niclofolan and praziquantel have shown high therapeutic efficacy. The most recommendable one is considered praziquantel. For control of this disease, mass chemotherapy of patients seems to be the most efficient and feasible measure.

Autoradiographic Studies On The Uptake And Distribution Of (14)C-Glucose By Paragonimus Westermani

Autoradiographic study was performed in order to know the distrition of exogenous (14)C-glucose by lung fluke, Paragonimus westermani, incubated in Tyrode medium containing 10 micro Ci/ml of labeled substance. After 1 hour incubation at 37 degrees C, microautoradiographs of this fluke showed that black grains derived from radioactive carbon were accumulated mainly in the parenchyme and subcuticular musculature. The muscular tissues such as oral sucker, pharynx and ventral sucker revaled considerable density of fine grains. Slight radioactivity was also observed in the regions of ovary, testes, vitelline follicles, eggs in uteyrus, intestinal ceca, and even in excretory bladder. Structures showing the least activity included the cuticle and uterine tubules of this fluke.

Study on the (14)C-glucose metabolism by Clonorchis sinensis: Paper Chromatographic Analyses in Combination with Autoradiography

Radioactive (14)C-glucose(U) was given to Clonorchis sinensis in Tris buffer medium, in corder to trace the metabolic fate of the labelled carbon. The labelled carbon from glucose enters into intermediary metabolites and end products of anaeroblic glycolysis, Embden-Meyerhof pathway, and of aerobic Krebs cycle. These product were identified by one or two-dimensional paper chromatography in combination with autoradoigraphy. 1)The labelled metabolites detected in this experiment corresponded to pyruvic acid, latic acid, malic acid, succinic acid and fumaric acid. 2)Amino acids, such as alanine, aspartic acid, glutamic acid, valine, theronine, and serine, derived by the degradation of (14)C- glycose were also found. 3)Labelled compounds behaving like alanine, aspartic acid and glutamic acid were observed in the chroma to gram of incubation medium. 4)The preciptation which suggests a positive reaction for protein occured when absolute ethanol was added to the incubation medium.

[Studies On Lactic Dehydrogenase Activities In Developmental Stages Of Fertilized Eggs Of Ascaris Lumbricoides]

The lactic dehydrogenase activities of Ascaris lumbricoides have been assayed according to the developmental course of the fertilized eggs compared with the unfertilized eggs. Experimental procedures were modified that of Wroblewski and La Due's method with use of diphosphopyridine nucleotide reduced form(DPNH). Sodium pyruvate and lactic dehydrogenase, the specific activities were expressed as DPNH unit per mg protein by method of Kornberg's. The experimental results are as follaws: 1. Lactic dehydrogenase activity in fertilized eggs of Ascaris are significantly increased from morula stage and its optimal pH is in 3.4 degrees. While any activities were not observed in unicell stage of fertilized eggs and unfertilized eggs. 2. Water soluble protein of fertilized eggs of Ascaris were varied in their amount during their developmental process. The amont of protein in tadpole stage eggs have increased to 1.3 times more than that of cleavage stage eggs. 3. However the amounts of water soluble protein in unfertilized eggs are revealed to one-third less than that of fertlized eggs. 4. The specific activity of lactic dehydrogenase in tadpole stage eggs are decreased to one third less than those of morula stage eggs during development, the stage is considered to be as a growth criteria in developmental process, as on this point the activity of aerobic cytochrome coxidase and cyclophorase begin to increase respectively.

[Studies On Malic Dehydrogenase Activity In Parasitic Helminths]

The malic dehydrogenase activity was determined by the modified method of Ochoa (1955) using tissue homogenates of various parasitic helminths. Worm parasites were mostly collected from local abattoir, and removed from the organ or tissues of the naturally infected animal hosts, and some materials were also obtained from the human hosts. The helminths used in this experiment include 3 kinds of nematodes, 5 kinds of trematodes, and 8 kinds of cestodes. They were throughly washed and homogenized in glass tissue grinder in ice chilled water bath, and then centrifuged. The supernatants were designated as enzyme preparations. The hydrogen concentrations of buffer solution were pH 1.4, 2.7, 3.5, 4.2, 5.2, 7.4, 8.2, 9.3, 10.2, 11.6, and enzymatic reaction of this experiment was performed at incubation temperature of 20, 30, 40, and 50 degrees C. The extinction of Nicotinamide Adenosine Dinucleotide (NAD) was measured by spectrophotometry at the wave length of 340 millimicron. The results of the experiment were as follows: 1. The malic dehydrogenase activity occurred over all kinds of parasitic helminths used in this study. And the activity on sparganum turned out to be highest. 2. All helminths displayed their maximum activity in the range of alkaline pH. 3. A comparison of the effects of temperature and substrate concentration on the enzyme activity was made among these helminths. However, no definite relationship among them has been detected. 4. The significance of the existence of this enzyme in the helminths was briefly discussed.