The previously described polyamine N-acetyltransferase from Fasciola hepatica has been observed to have an additional function, the acetylation of biogenic amines. The activities for biogenic amines, diamines and polyamines were in a constant ratio throughout the purification process. Biogenic amines found to be substrates for the enzyme included tyramine, tryptamine, beta-phenylethylamine and histamine, with Km values of 0.12 mM, 0.26 mM, 0.30 mM and 0.76 mM respectively. Octopamine, 5-hydroxytryptamine and alpha-phenylethylamine were also acceptable as substrates, though to a lesser degree. The optimum pH for biogenic-amine acetylation was 7.5, and CoA was inhibitory to the process, with a Ki of 5.5 microM. N-Acetylation appears to play a major role in the amine metabolism of this trematode. We presume that acetylation represents the process by which the parasite inactivates excess amines.
An investigation of the lipids of Oochoristica agamae, an anoplocephalid cestode of the Agama lizard, was undertaken. Total lipids of the parasite accounted for 8.4% of the fresh weight; neutral lipids comprised 82.98% of the total, glycolipids, 5.01%, and phospholipids, 12.03%. The major lipid classes in O. agamae include triglycerides, cholesterol, phosphatidyl choline, and phosphatidyl ethanolamine. The 16- and 18-carbon fatty acids were predominant in the parasite. Hexadecenoic acid, usually found at low concentrations in the lipids of helminth parasites, was the most abundant of the 16-carbon fatty acids of O. agamae (notably in the neutral lipid fraction). Although octadecatrienoic acid occurred only in trace amounts in the intestinal contents of the host, significant amounts of this fatty acid were detected in the parasite. A lack of 20-carbon fatty acids was determined in the lipids of the host's intestinal contents and the neutral lipid fraction of the parasite. O. agamae is suspected to be capable of modifying fatty acids obtained from dietary sources by chain elongation.
Investigations undertaken on the monogeneans of amphibians in Nigeria have shown that host ecology has an influence on the distribution of these monogeneans. Amphibians from humid environments of the rainforest, a freshwater swamp and mangrove harboured no monogeneans, whereas those occurring in drier conditions in the savannah-mosaic and guinea savannah yielded five species of polystomatid parasites: Polystoma prudhoei from Bufo regularis, Polystoma galamensis from Rana galamensis, Eupolystoma alluaudi from Bufo regularis and Bufo maculatus, and two unidentified Polystoma species from Bufo regularis and Ptychadena oxyrynchus, respectively. Some of these monogeneans appear to have reproduction cycles which are synchronized with those of the hosts. The prevalence of E. alluaudi in Bufo spp. caught in New Bussa (68.4% in B. regularis and 82.3% in B. maculatus) were higher than those reported for this parasite in other locations in West Africa and for Eupolystoma anterorchis in Bufo pardalis from the Cape Flats of South Africa.
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