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Defensive Mechanisms of the Schistosome Snail Host Oncomelania Formosana against Copper Sulfate in Adult and Egg Stages^*

Lindsay R. Winkler AND Lois Wong Chi

Histochemical studies indicate that Oncomelania eggs are protected from the toxic effects of copper sulfate in greater or less degree by several mechanisms. The mucus in the mud capsule binds copper, as does also the "protein bath" surrounding the embryo. This latter, however, is eaten before hatching and the embryo, as well as the adult, disposes of ingested copper by concentrating it as deposits in certain large cells in the tissue surrounding the stomach and proximal intestine. Copper absorbed into the systemic blood of adults appears to be detoxified principally in the digestive gland by large cells, morphologically similar to those of the stomach wall. These cells congregate and shrivel, principally along the inner wall of the hemocoel of the digestive gland.

^* This investigation was supported by research grant E 2705 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the U. S. Public Health Service.

College of the Desert, Palm Desert, California.

Immaculate Heart College, Los Angeles, California.