Defective Granular Eggshell Formation by Schistosoma Mansoni in Experimentally Infected Guinea Pigs on a Vitamin C Deficient Diet

Abstract

In guinea pigs exptally. infected with S. mansoni and maintained on Vitamin C-deficient diets, ova with defective, granular eggshells are produced, and large numbers of these defective ova are encountered in the viscera of the host. Expts. failed to indicate injury to normal eggshells of S. mansoni in Vitamin C-deficient guinea pigs through humoral or tissue reaction. These findings indicate that the eggshells of S. mansoni axe derived from vitello-genous granules and that Vitamin C apparently plays an important role in binding these granules together to form a homogeneous refractile shell.