Mitochondrial membrane fluorescence and temperature adaptation in Schistocephalus solidus (Cestoda: Pseudophyllidea)

Abstract

The fluorescent probe 1-anilino-8-naphthalene suiphonic acid (ANS) was used to investigate the effect of temperature on the physical state of the mitochondrial membranes of adult and larval schistocephalus solzdus together with that of their hosts Gasterosteus aculeatus and Gallus domesticus. Arrhenius plots of ANS/membrane fluorescence for S. solidus plerocercoids was linear over the temperature range 15 to 58 °C, while that for the adult was biphasic with a discontinuity at 39·9 °C. This was interpreted as a physical change which occurred in the adult membrane but not in the plerocercoid membrane and pointed to an alteration in membrane composition during infection. Gasierosteus aculeatus showed a linear Arrhenius plot for membrane fluorescence, irrespective of acclimation temperature. Gallus domesticus showed a discontinuity in the Arrhenius plot for membrane fluorescence at 46·9 °C, outside the normal physiological temperature range.