Studies on the Pathology of Dicrocoeliasis and Fascioliasis in the Goat III. The Histochemistry of Mast Cells and Globule Leucocytes

Abstract

Comparative studies were made on the structure and histochemistry of mast cells and globule leucocytes in dicrocoeliasis and fascioliasis of the goat. Investigations showed that D. dendriticum and F. hepatica infections in the goat produce an increase in the number of hepatic mast cells and frequent occurrence of globule leucocytes in the epithelium of the bile ducts. The only difference between these infections was that globule leucocytes were more frequent in small bile ducts in dicrocoeliasis than in fascioliasis.

Histochemical methods showed the presence of sulphomucins in the granules of mast cells, while both neutral mucins and carboxymucins were revealed in the globules of globule leucocytes. The acidity of the mucosubstances could not be shown to result from hyaluronic acid, chondroitin-4 and -6-sulphates, or sialic acid. The globules of globule leucocytes also contained histochemically identifiable highly basic proteins.

Sammanfattning

Jämförande undersökningar med avseende på mastcellernas och globule leukocyternas histokemi vid dicrocoeliasis och fascioliasis hos get har utförts. Resultatet visade att infektioner med D. dendriticum och F. hepatica orsakar en ökning av antalet mastceller i levern och en frekvent förekomst av globule leukocyter i gallgångsepitelet. Enda observerade differens melian dessa infektioner var att dicrocoeliasis visade rikligare förekomst av globule leukocyter i de små gallgångarna an fascioliasis.

Histokemiska metoder visade förekomst av sulfomuciner i granula hos mastceller medan neutrala- och karboxymuciner demonstrerades i globuler hos globule leukocyter. Hyaluronsyra, chondroitin-4 och -6-sulfater och sialinsyra kunde inte visas producera aciditet hos mukosubstanser. Globuler hos globule leukocyter innehöll starkt basiska proteiner, som kunde påvisas med histokemiska metoder.