On the Relative Importance of Aerobic Metabolism in Small Nematode Parasites of the Alimentary Tract I. Oxygen Tensions in the Normal Environment of the Parasites

Abstract

As a preliminary to the study of the relative importance . of aerobic mechanisms in the metabolism of Nippostrongylus muris, Nematodirus spathiger, Nematodirus filicollis, and Haemonchus contortus at oxygen pressures of the normal environmental fluids of these parasites, the determination of oxygen in the contents of the small intestine of the rat and sheep, and the abomasum of the sheep, has been carried out. The method which was used allowed measurements to be made close to the mucosa of the alimentary canal of anaesthetized animals in which the circulation was left intact, and the procedure ensured that conditions in the normal gut were very little disturbed.