Title: Pyruvate kinase and phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase activities of Ascaris muscle, Hymenolepis diminuta and Schistosoma mansoni
Abstract: Abstract 1. 1. Marked differences in pyruvate kinase activities were found to occur in three parasitic helminths. In Ascaris muscle the avtivity of this enzyme was 100–200 times lower than in Schistosoma mansoni and 10 times lower than in the tapeworm Hymenolepis diminuta. 2. 2. It appears that in these three helmints fermentation in the direction 3. of either succinate or lactate is controlled by the competing activities of pyruvate kinase and PEP carboxykinase. 4. 3. In the muscle of Ascaris which produced no appreaciable quantities of lactate, the ratio of pyruvate kinase to PEP carboxykinase activities was 0·04. 5. 4. In H. diminuta, this ratio was 5 times higher; lactate is a minor and succinate is a major fermentation product of this parasite. 6. 5. By contrast, lactate formation accounts for virtually all carbohydrate utilized by S. mansoni. In thos organism pyruvate kinase activity was found to be 5·0–9·3 times higher than PEP carboxykinase activity.
Publication Year: 1968
Publication Date: 1968-02-01
Language: en
Type: article
Indexed In: ['crossref', 'pubmed']
Access and Citation
Cited By Count: 153
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