Densitometric thin-layer chromatographic analyses of cholesterol inSchistosoma mansoni (Trematoda) adults and their excretory-secretory products.

Densitometric thin-layer Chromatographic analysis was used to quantitate cholesterol in 6-week-old male, female, and worm-pairs ofSchistosoma mansoni, and their excretory-secretory (E-S) products. Males extracted immediately after removal from mice had 1.2-1.5 μg cholesterol/worm, whereas those incubated for 0.5 hr in Earle's balanced solution at 37 ° C contained 0.8-1.5 μg cholesterol/ worm. Females extracted immediately after removal from hosts contained 130 ng cholesterol/worm. Females accumulated considerable cholesterol during incubation and had 420 ng cholesterol/ worm at 0.5 hr. Worm-pairs extracted at 0 hr had 1.9-2.8 μg cholesterol/pair and 1.2-1.5 μg cholesterol/ pair when extracted at 0.5 hr postincubation. Following incubation for 0.5 hr, males released 12-28 ng cholesterol/ worm (average 21), females released 8-13 ng cholesterol/ worm (average 11), and worm-pairs released 3-13 ng cholesterol/worm-pair (average 8).