Hostname: page-component-7c8c6479df-27gpq Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-03-29T05:53:46.397Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Tritiated thymidine ([3H]-TdR) and immunocytochemical tracing of cellular fate within the asexually dividing cestode Mesocestoides vogae (syn. M. corti)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 July 2000

A. G. SMITH
Affiliation:
Cancer and Ageing Research Group, University of Ulster at Coleraine, Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry BT55 1SA, Northern Ireland
G. McKERR
Affiliation:
Cancer and Ageing Research Group, University of Ulster at Coleraine, Cromore Road, Coleraine, Co. Londonderry BT55 1SA, Northern Ireland

Abstract

This report documents the presence of an active thymidine kinase (TK) system within Mesocestoides vogae tetrathyridia as quantified by tritiated thymidine ([3H]-TdR) incorporation using liquid scintillation counting. A 100-fold increase in [3H]-TdR incorporation was observed at 37 °C when compared with its incorporation at 0 °C. Thymidine's competitive analogue, BrdU, competed for sites within newly replicated DNA. Immunohistochemical trials performed here using antibodies against BrdU identified cells that have entered and passed through S-phase. Positively stained nuclei were most numerous at the anterior tip of tetrathyridia especially within the ganglia, lesser numbers of these cells occurred along the growing commissure and amongst surface tegumental cytons suggesting that stem cells do not exist in one region but are found throughout the entire body. As M. vogae has no internal organ systems the major sites for cell proliferation are those exhibiting maximal cell recruitment and undergoing tissue repair. These results show that it is possible to monitor changes in the cell recruitment pattern within this cestode. Thus use of BrdU and immunohistochemistry demonstrates how spatial arrangement and cellular reorganization can be successfully traced within M. vogae.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
© 2000 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)