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Ultrastructural characters of the spermatozoon of the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini (Poirier, 1886) (Opisthorchiidae)

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Abstract

The present study records the ultrastructural organization of the mature spermatozoon of Opisthorchis viverrini by means of transmission electron microscopy. The spermatozoon of O. viverrini is a filiform cell, tapered at both extremities. It exhibits the characteristics of type IV spermatozoon of digeneans, namely with two axonemes of the 9+‘1’ trepaxonematan pattern, external ornamentation of the plasma membrane associated with cortical microtubules that are in the posterior part of the anterior region of the sperm cell, and with two mitochondria. The maximal number of cortical microtubules is in the anterior part of the spermatozoon and arranged into two bundles. Other characteristics are spine-like bodies and a posterior extremity with only the second axoneme. Ultrastructural characters of the spermatozoon of O. viverrini are compared with those of other known digeneans belonging to the Opisthorchioidea, with particular emphasis on representatives of the family Opisthorchiidae. The main differences between O. viverrini and its congener Opisthorchis felineus are the spine-like bodies (present and absent, respectively) and the posterior spermatozoon character (axoneme and nucleus, respectively).

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Acknowledgments

This work was supported by AGAUR (grant no. 2014SGR1241). Authors are grateful to Pierre Echaubard and Srisupaph Poonlaphdecha for the logistical support. We wish to thank Professor John S. Mackiewicz, State University of New York at Albany, for his helpful suggestions, edits, and comments on the earlier version of the manuscript. We wish also to acknowledge the “Centres Científics i Tecnològics” of the University of Barcelona (CCiTUB) for the assistance in the preparation of the samples. B. Sripa was supported by the Thailand Research Fund Senior Research Scholar (RTA 5680006).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Secció de Parasitologia, Departament de Biologia, Sanitat i Medi Ambient, Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l’Alimentació, Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Joan XXIII, sn, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Miquel & Alexis Ribas

  2. Institut de Recerca de la Biodiversitat (IRBio), Universitat de Barcelona, Av. Diagonal, 645, 08028, Barcelona, Spain

    Jordi Miquel & Alexis Ribas

  3. Witold Stefański Institute of Parasitology, Polish Academy of Sciences, 51/55 Twarda Street, 00-818, Warszawa, Poland

    Zdzisław Świderski

  4. WHO Collaborating Centre for Research and Control of Opisthorchiasis, Tropical Disease Research Laboratory, Department of Pathology, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University, Khon Kaen, 40002, Thailand

    Banchob Sripa

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  1. Jordi Miquel
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  2. Zdzisław Świderski
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Correspondence to Jordi Miquel.

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All procedures complied with National Experimental Animal Centre guidelines and the Animal Unit, Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University (Thailand).

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Miquel, J., Świderski, Z., Sripa, B. et al. Ultrastructural characters of the spermatozoon of the liver fluke Opisthorchis viverrini (Poirier, 1886) (Opisthorchiidae). Parasitol Res 116, 2499–2506 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00436-017-5559-y

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