Effect of gas phase on carbohydrate metabolism in Ascaris suum larvae.

The in vitro metabolism of [1-13C]glucose by Ascaris suum third and fourth-stage larvae was analyzed under different gas phases using 13C nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (13C-NMR). Third-stage larvae (L3) incubated under a gas phase of 85% N2/5% O2/10% CO2 produced trace amounts of [13C]succinate, and molted to fourth-stage larvae (L4) between days 3 and 4 in vitro. However, they appeared to arrest as L3s when incubated under air, or 85% N2/5% O2/10% CO2 in the presence of 2 mM potassium cyanide, or 95% N2/5% CO2. Day 12 L4 (eight days after molting) incubated under 85% N2/5% O2/10% CO2, or 95% N2/5% CO2, or 94% N2/1% O2/5% CO2, produced succinate, acetate, propionate and the branched-chain fatty acids 2-methylvalerate and 2-methylbutyrate by fermentative pathways characteristic of adult body wall muscle. In contrast, when Day 12 L4 were incubated under air, only trace amounts of these acids were detected in the incubation medium. Thus, L4 are capable of synthesizing end-products typical of the adult even in the presence of oxygen, as long as the CO2 tensions are above 5%. As would be predicted, activities of enzymes involved in aerobic metabolism, including citrate synthase, isocitrate dehydrogenase, and cytochrome oxidase, decreased dramatically as L4s underwent the final ecdysis and matured to the adult stage. More importantly, activities of enzymes typical of anaerobic metabolism, including phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase and malic enzyme, were substantially elevated in L3s (over their levels in second-stage larvae), and appeared to have reached their adult levels in L3s prior to the third molt, even though L3s still exhibited cyanide sensitivity. Since L3s and L4s have enzymes involved in both aerobic and anaerobic pathways, it is possible that the L3s contain two populations of mitochondria, one which functions aerobically and a second which functions anaerobically.