Xiphidiocercariae from naturally infected Lymnaea columella (Mollusca, Gastropoda) in urban area: morphology and ultrastructure of the larvae and histological changes in the mollusc host

Abstract

Urban agriculture is very common in the cities, as Rio de Janeiro and adjacencies, being important as economic activity. However, this practice can create appropriate conditions for establishment and maintenance of life cycle of many parasites. Lymneid snails can act as intermediate hosts of many trematodes species, including those that infect humans and wild and domestic. In the present study, the snail Lymnaea columella was collected from an urban watercress plantations and the morphology of cercariae released by them was analyzed by light and scanning electron microscopy. The specimens were identified as xiphidiocercariae, belonging to the Cercariae Ornatae group, of the order Plagiorchiiformes. Histological examination of the digestive gland of the infected snails revealed the presence of developing sporocysts, with hemocitary infiltration and metaplasia in the epithelial tissue.

Toxicological Evaluation of Acetylsalicylic Acid in Non-Target Organisms: Chronic Exposure on Mytilus galloprovincialis (Lamarck, 1819)

“…This reaction was characterized mainly by extended vacuolation, moderate deposits of lipofuscin, hemocyte infiltration, extended lamellar fusion, and modifications of epithelial morphology. Infiltrative inflammations characterized by various stages of hemocyte infiltrations are widely reported in gill tissues of molluscs exposed to environmental toxicants ( Carnegie and Meyer, 2021 ; Khan et al, 2019 ; Kumeiko et al, 2018 ; Paviotti-Fischer et al, 2018 ). As for the digestive gland, the function of infiltrative hemocytes to phagocyte pathogens and/or foreign bodies is to initialize the organism’s response to xenobiotics, starting the multixenobiotic defense mechanism (MXDM) ( Pain and Parant, 2003 ; Parant, 2022 ).…”

Proposal of a Set of Indicators for Sustainability Evaluation of Food Production in an Urban Context

“…The use of indicators related to water quality is just as important as those related to water availability. Water contaminated by chemical or biological agents used in the irrigation of fruits and vegetables (mainly those that are consumed raw) are important vectors of disease among the population [47].…”

Urban Agriculture in Latin America: A Green Culture Beyond Growing and Feeding

“…As a counterpart of the focus laid on the productive and cultural bundles, the biophysical and biological bundles have been neglected in most of the LA countries. Even though they underlie all the expressions of UA and can reduce the risks associated with contamination, degradation, or waste, there are few studies of UA related to water shortage and quality (Lugo-Morin, 2010;Ebel et al, 2020), soil fertility (Alban et al, 2017;Ebel, 2020), air quality (Vega Castro and Salamanca Rivera, 2015), carbon emissions and shortage (Cerón-Palma et al, 2013), or the emergence of pests and diseases (Paviotti-Fischer et al, 2019;Ebel, 2020). The focus of policy makers and institutions on the productive bundle in most research in LA countries supports the interpretation that the GS has made efforts to solve desperate conditions in the short term (Gray et al, 2020), apparently unaware that the biophysical, biological, and cultural bundles have key roles in maintaining UA in the middle and long terms, as well as in reducing the environmental, social, and economic risks.…”