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Form, Function, and
Classification
Eloisa D. Quizon, RMT
General Characteristics
• body elongate
• cylindrical
• tapered at both ends
• Body design is a tube within a tube
• outer tube body wall and underlying muscles
• inner tube digestive tract
• Pseudocoelom - fluid-filled in b/n the tubes,
• reproductive system
• and other structures are found;
• filled with hemolymph
General Characteristics cont.
Although there are some structural differences between
pseudocoeloms and coeloms, they confer many of the same
advantages:
• A space within the body cavity allows for the
reproductive and digestive systems to evolve more
complex shapes and functions
• acts as a “cushion”, a chamber that offers protection to
the gut and other organs;
• acts as a “hydrostatic skeleton”, providing support and
rigidity for a soft bodied animal
Sexual dimorphism is evident:
• at the curved posterior end of the male there is a
copulatory organ as well as other specialized organs;
• males are usually smaller than females
Cuticle
covers the body surface of nematodes; it is
periodically molted
metabolically active with enzymes
Specialized structures:
spines, bristles, warts, papillae, and ridges may be
present on the cuticle;
sensory and may aid in locomotion
not only covers the entire external surface, but it also
lines the buccal cavity, esophagus, rectum, cloaca,
vagina, and excretory pore
Cuticle is composed of 4 Layers:
• Epicuticle thin; with a carbohydrate containing glycocalyx; acts
as a protective barrier
• Exocuticle
• Mesocuticle consists of obliquely oriented, collagenous, fibrous
sublayers that vary in number and angular arrangement to each
other; they sublayers can shift their angles of orientation, thus
providing flexibility to the cuticle
• Endocuticle fibrous, but
orientation of the fibers is
not distinct
• A basal lamina separates
the cuticle from the
underlying hypodermis
Hypodermis
• Beneath the basal lamina lies the thin, cellular (or in some cases syncitial)
hypodermis which secretes the cuticle
• Protrude into the pseudocoelom along the middorsal, midventral and lateral
lines to form the longitiudinal hypodermal cords, partially dividing the
pseudocoel into quadrants
• Hypodermal organelles such as nuclei and mitochondria are confined to the
cords
• The lateral cords are
the largest and contain
the primary excretory
canal when these are
present, while the
dorsal and ventral
cords contain
longitudinal nerve
trunks
Musculature
• Somatic musculature one or more layers of
longitudinally arranged muscle cells within and
closely associated with the hypodermis
• Each muscle cell comprises a contractile portion
containing myofibrils and a noncontractile
portion in which are found the various organelles,
such as the nucleus, mitochondria, etc.
• BODY WALL – cuticle, hypodermis, and somatic
musculature
Musculature cont.
• An arrangement of multiple longitiudinal rows of muscle
cells in each quadrant is termed polymyarian, one with no
more than2 rows of cells is called holomyarian, and one
with 2 to 5 rows is meromyarian
Digestive Tract
• mouth
•gut with 3
major regions
(foregut,
midgut, and
hindgut);
•a cloaca, &
•a subterminal
vent
Digestive Tract cont.
• The esophagous empties into the midgut (intestine) through a
junction called the esophagointestinal valve
• The midgut is a straight tube lined with a single layer of cells
bearing microvilli and a prominent glycocalyx
• The midgut is nonmuscular, the food being moved posteriorly by
the muscular activity of the foregut and the overall body
movements
• Digestion can be intra or extracellular or both
• In females, the midgut empties into the cuticle lined hindgut or
rectum a short, flattened tube joining the midgut and the anus
• In males, the posterior most portion of hindgut receives the
products of the reproductive system via the vas deferens and is
therefore called a cloaca
Digestive Tract cont.
• The cuticle lined foregut begins at the mouth, which in many
species opens into a buccal capsule and continues as the
esophagus
• Action of the esophagus is often enhanced by one or more
muscular enlargements called bulbs
• The glandular portion of the foregut ranges from a few
unicellular glands to large prominent glands lying along the
esophagus
Nervous System
• There are 2 major nerve centers in nematodes:
1. The circumesophageal commissure, or nerve ring
2. The rectal commissure
• Associated with
the nerve ring are
ganglia from
which
longitudinal
nerves emanate
• From the ventral
longitudinal nerve
is born the rectal
commissure
Nervous System cont.
•Mechanoreceptors located around the mouth are papillae of 2
types: labial papillae on the lips surrounding the mouth and
cephalic papillae behind the lips
• Other papillae may be found at different levels of the
nematode body, e.g. caudal papillae, observed in many
males; aids in copulation
Nervous System cont.
Chemoreceptors:
•Amphids are chemoreceptors located in shallow
anterior depressions or pits
• Phasmids are a set of chemoreceptors at the posterior end
Excretory System
• When present, the basic component is comprised of 1 or 2 renettes,
large unicellular glands that empty through an excretory pore
• The renettes and the excretory pore are usually located
anteriorly
Note:
• It has not been shown conclusively that this system has a function in the
removal of wastes
• It may be strictly osmoregulatory
Male Reproductive System
• One or two testes
• Vas deferens (sperm duct) extends distally to the cloaca
• Two specializations of
the vas deferens are
evident before it enters
the cloaca: the seminal
vesicle (sperm storage)
and the ejaculatory
duct
• Sperm has no flagella
or acrosomes
Male Reproductive System cont.
• Male nematodes are usually equipped with one or more copulatory
spicules, cuticular structures are encased within spicule pouches located
laterally in the cloacal wall
• The spicules are important
during copulation in that they
keep the female vulva open,
thus facilitating the entry of
sperm into the female
reproductive tract
• Other accessory structure
may be present, including a
sclerotized spicular guide or
gubernaculum; serves to
guide the spicules when they
are extended
Female Reproductive System
• Usually didelphic equipped with 2 cylindrical ovaries and uteri
• The uteri unite to form a common vagina that opens through a
gonopore or vulva, usually located near midbody
• Oogonia are produced
at the proximal end of
the ovary, which is
known as the germinal
zone
• As the oogonia
develop into oocytes,
they move distally along
the rachis into the
growth zone
Female Reproductive System cont.
•Approaching the oviduct, the oocystes detach from the rachis
and pass to a portion of the oviduct called the spermatheca,
where sperm are stored
• Once fertilized, the
developing egg is moved
down the tract by a
combination of uterine
peristalsis and hydrostattic
pressure
• The distal portion of the
uterus, the ovijector, is
usually muscular and acts
in conjunction with the
muscles of the vulva to
expel ripe eggs
Female Reproductive System cont.
•Eggs can hatch either within the host or in the external
environment
• Hatching of eggs in the external environment is , in
part, controlled by such ambient factors as
temperature, moisture, and oxygen tension
• In some species, the eggs only hatch once they have
been ingested by a host
• In these cases the stimuli for hatching may be carbon
dioxide tension, pH, salts and temperature
Molting
Nematodes undergo 4 molts each of which involves:
formation of new cuticle, loosening of the old cuticle,
rupturing of the old cuticle, and escape of the larva
• This sequence of events is controlled by
exsheathing fluid secreted by the larva
• In some nematodes, there is a lag phase at some
stage of development, during which a phase of the
life cycle is temporarily arrested
• This phenomenon is called hypobiosis
(developmental arrest) it is thought to be an
adaptation that allows the larva to withstand adverse
environmental conditions while awaiting the access
of a new host
Larval Forms
• Larval stages preceding each molt of the 4
molts in the life cycle of parasitic nematodes
are generally referred to as first, second, third,
and fourthstage larvae (e.g., L1, L2 ,L3, L4)
• The first stage larva being the stage prior to
the first molt
• However various other designations also are
used for specific nematode larval forms
Larval Forms
• Rhabditiform
larva The first
stage larva of
Strongyloides and
hookworms; the
esophagus of this
small larva is joined
to a terminal
esophageal bulb by a
narrow isthmus
Larval Forms cont.
• Filariform larva after molting twice, the rhabditiform larva of
Strongyloides and hookworms usually retain the remnants of their last
cuticle and becom ensheathed, 3rd stage or filariform larva
• The esophagus is
typically elongate and
cylindrical and has no
terminal bulb
• This larva is usually
the stage that is
infective to the
definitive host
Larval Forms cont.
•Microfilaria the prelarvae of filarial worms (e.g.
Wuchereria bancrofti)
•The larval body
surface is covered by
a thin layer of
flattened epidermal
cells
•The primordia of
various adults
structures are visible
within the
pseudocoelom
Phylum Nematodes:
Class Aphasmidia
(Adenophorea)
Trichinella spiralis –
Trichina worm
Capillaria philippinensis –
Pudoc worm
C. hepatica – “rat”
Trichuris trichiura –
Whipworm
T. vulpis – dog
whipworm
Phylum Nematoda:
Class Phasmidia
(Secernentea)
Ascaris lumbricoides –
Giant Intestinal
roundworm
A. suum – Pis Ascaris
Necator americanus –
New world Hookworm
Anylostoma duodenale –
Old world hookworm
A. braziliense
A. caninum
A. ceylanicum
Phylum Nematoda: C. Phasmidia
(cont.)
Enterobius vermicularis
– Pinworm, Seatworm
Strongyloides
stercoralis –
Threadworm
Phylum Nematoda: cont.
Infective stage