A report on the occurrence of microvillus-like structures in the caeca of certain trematodes (Paramphistomatidae)

Abstract

The observations presented in this study indicate that the filose projections emerging from the apical or luminal surface of the epithelial cells lining the caeca of the trematodesCleptodiscus kyphosiandC. reticulatusare sterocilia or microvilli. Their activity in the animal appears to be concerned with the absorption of substances from the lumen of the blindly ending caeca rather than with movement of material.Acknowledgement is made that part of this work was carried out in the Department of Zoology and Anatomy of the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, and supported in part by a grant from the Nebraska Heart Association for 1959.