Studies of the differentiating plerocercoid cuticle of <i>Schistocephalus solidus</i>. II. The ultrastructural examination of cuticle development

Abstract

These studies were designed to provide information on ultrastructural changes in the differentiating plerocercoid cuticle of Schistocephalus solidus. Portions of the cuticle retain an apparently primitive or undifferentiated morphology during growth with the most profound changes being restricted to the thick superficial cuticle of each segment. Although the velum remains thin and similar in many ways to the entire cuticle of small worms, the superficial cuticle increases greatly in depth, changes in structural composition, develops a basal mitochondria population, and elaborates an extensive surface layer of cuticular protrusions. These morphological observations are correlated with previous histochemical results.