The neuro-glandular brain of the Pyramicocephalus phocarum plerocercoid (Cestoda, Diphyllobothriidea): Immunocytochemical and ultrastructural study

Abstract

А novel type of a complex neuro-glandular brain structure including both nervous and glandular elements and associated with sensory ones is detected in Pyramicocephalus phocarum plerocercoid (Cestoda: Diphyllobothriidea), parasite of Gadus morua from the White Sea. The brain has two lateral lobes connected by a long cellular median commissure. The brain is tightly surrounded by glandular cells, which receive numerous synapses from the brain neurons. A complex of sensory organs associated with ducts and terminal pores of the frontal glands lies in the scolex tegument. Serotonin, FMRFamide- and GABA-like immunoreactive (IR) neurons are found in the brain, the main nerve cords, and the plexus of the plerocercoid. The innervation of the frontal gland ducts by FMRFamide-IR neurites is detected for the first time proving that they function under control of the nervous system and thus evidencing the eccrine nature of the secretion mechanism. Ultrastructural data show that light, dark and neurosecretory neurons are present in the brain lobes. The median commissure consists of loosely arranged thin parallel axons and several giant and small neurons. The commissure is stratified and penetrated by frontal glandular cells and their processes. Such neuro-glandular morpho-functional brain complex is suggested as a model for Diphyllobothriidae family. Five structural types of sensory organs are described in the scolex of P. phocarum; their colocalization with eccrine gland terminals is supposedly specific for Diphyllobothriidae family. Within the order Diphyllobothriidea, there are significant differences in the architecture of the plerocercoid brain at the family level. We suppose homology of giant commissural neurons among Diphyllobothriidea. Differences between diphyllobothriidean nervous system and that of other cestodes are discussed.