Valderrama Katherinne, Oliva Marcelo, Campos Bernardita, Brown Donald
Departamento de Biología, Instituto de Ciencias Biológicas y Químicas, Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Valparaíso, Casilla 5030, Valparaíso, Chile.
Dis Aquat Organ. 2004 May 5;59(2):151-8. doi: 10.3354/dao059151.
The clam Eurhomalea lenticularis may be parasitized by digenean trematodes of the family Plagiorchidae, specifically in the gonads (parasitic castration). A quantitative histological analysis of the parasitized gonads demonstrated a significant decrease in gonadal area, in the size of individual acini, and in the numbers of differentiated germ cells compared to unparasitized clams. Castration may be caused by mechanical compression due to trematode sporocyst growth. However, the uniform loss of germ cells in areas without sporocysts suggests that a more generalized mechanism is responsible. We suggest that parasitic castration has a primary effect on the host's neuroendocrine and gametogenic systems that regulate gamete production.
透镜欧氏蛤可能会被斜睾科的复殖吸虫寄生，特别是在性腺中（寄生性阉割）。对被寄生性腺的定量组织学分析表明，与未被寄生的蛤相比，性腺面积、单个腺泡大小以及分化生殖细胞数量均显著减少。阉割可能是由于吸虫孢蚴生长导致的机械压迫引起的。然而，在没有孢蚴的区域生殖细胞也均匀缺失，这表明存在一种更普遍的机制在起作用。我们认为寄生性阉割对宿主调节配子产生的神经内分泌和配子发生系统有主要影响。
