Histochemistry of Centroorhynchus falconis (Das, 1950)

With a view to augment the understanding of the animal mucosubstances in general and Acanthocephalan mucosubstances in particular, Acanthocephalan worms of (Centrorhynchus falconis, Das, 1950) were investigated histochemically by employing recent techniques. Variations in the intensity of histochemical reactions in different tissues revealed a heterogenous distribution of mucosubstances. The cuticle contained a mixture of periodate reactive neutral mucosubstances and sulfomucins, whereas the subcuticle contained only glycogen. Retractor muscles contained glycogen together with some acidic mucosubstances which exhibited alcianophilia only at high pH. Cement glands elaborated a mixture of glycogen and galactogen. Histochemical methods revealed two types of acanthors: Some contained only glycogen, whereas others contained glycogen and galactogen.