Physiological and morphological changes associated with recovery from anabiosis in the dauer larva of the nematode Anguina agrostis

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
SUMMARY: Morphological and physiological changes that occur during the rehydration of 2nd-stage infective larvae (L2) of Anguina agrostis are described. The first signs of motility, after 2 days of dehydration, were observed 0·5 h after rehydration and 90 % of the nematodes were moving within 15 h. Anabiotic A. agrostis were able to withstand repeated dehydration and rehydration. These procedures caused A. agrostis to accumulate large lipid droplets, which showed most clearly in the tail region. By means of a double labelling technique, it was shown that cuticle permeability of anabiotic L2 of A. agrostis initially increased slightly during rehydration. This was followed by a sharp decrease in permeability between 1 h and 8 h from the start of the experiment. A slower decline in permeability occurred between 8 h and 16 h and little further decrease occurred between 16 h and 24 h. The results are discussed in relation to the possible involvement of the epicuticle.