Temporal changes in glucose and carbohydrate metabolism in the oncospheres of the cyclophyllidean tapeworm, Hymenolepis diminuta

When incubated in vitro for 24 h, oncospheres of Hymenolepis diminuta absorb and metabolize radioactive glucose. Between 0 and 12 h post-activation, oncospheres absorb glucose, but glucose is neither metabolized into other carbohydrates nor incorporated into the ethanol-precipitable fraction (which would contain glycogen). Between 12 and 24 h post-activation glucose is incorporated into a number of higher molecular weight carbohydrates that are demonstrable in ethanol extracts of the larvae, as well as the incubation media. Furthermore, measurable amounts of radioactivity are incorporated into the ethanol-precipitable carbohydrate fraction of oncospheres. To determine if these temporal changes in carbohydrate metabolism occurred spontaneously following activation, oncospheres were pre-incubated for 12 h (0-12 h post-activation) in the absence or presence of glucose, and then transferred to media containing radioactive glucose for an additional 12 h (12-24 h post-activation). In these latter experiments, glucose absorption and metabolism between 12 and 24 h post-activation were virtually identical to glucose metabolism in oncospheres that were incubated in radioactive glucose for 0-12 h immediately following activation. Thus, these data do not support the hypothesis that the temporal shift in carbohydrate metabolism occurs spontaneously.