A comparative study of the vitelline cell in Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium, S. japonicum and S. mattheei.

A comparison is given of the ultrastructure of the vitelline cell in Schistosoma mansoni, S. haematobium, S. japonicum and S. mattheei. Four stages in development of the vitelline cell have been categorized as follows: Stage 1, the undifferentiated cell; Stage 2, the developing cell showing the beginning of synthetic activity; Stage 3, the developing cell showing active protein synthesis; Stage 4, the fully mature vitelline cell. These stages in development have been defined morphologically and Stages 1, 2 and 3 are very similar in all 4 species. Lipid is present in the Stage 4 cells of all species but appears earlier at Stage 3 in S. haematobium and S. mattheei. There are several differences as to the intercellular inclusions of the Stage 4 cells, the most marked of these being the absence of calcareous corpuscles from S. japonicum as compared with the other 3 species.