[Investigations on the pathogenesis of changes in somatic growth of Lymnaea stagnalis (Gastropoda:Pulmonata) experimentally infected with parthenites of trematode Opisthioglyphe ranae (Digenea:Plagiorchiida). II. Karyometry and aerobic metabolism of the neurosecretory cells].

Enlargement of nuclear volume of the neurosecretory cells producing growth hormone (light green cells of cerebral ganglia) was observed in experimentally infected snails. In addition to noted earlier increase in the amounts of: neurosecretory material, RNA and the loose fraction of nuclear chromatin in the perikarya, it can be the next argument for the influence of the parasite on the activity of the hormonal system cells of its intermediate host. Found in infected individuals, the increase in the succinate dehydrogenase activity in these perikarya, in the absence of changes in their morphology (which are an indications of the release of the adaptative type of cellular response), indicates that examined cells supply their energy need in the way of aerobic metabolism reactions. This increase in their activity is in the range of physiological standard.