This study aims to compare the electron spin resonance (ESR) spectra emitted by human blood loaded with either ascorbyl-6-palmitate (AP), a lipid-soluble derivative of ascorbic acid (AA), or with AA. Whole blood of a healthy male individual was equilibrated with equimolar concentrations of AP and AA of 200, 400, and 800 μmol/l. The intensity of the ESR signal, expressed as the peak-to-peak amplitude, reflects the amount of unpaired spins that are created due to the reducing action of AA and is proportional, in relative terms, to the amount of the ascorbyl radical formed. We found that the blood with AP emitted an ESR signal whose singlet shape, width, and location precisely correlate with the known characteristics of the ascorbyl radical in vitro. The signal magnitude increased linearly with increasing concentrations of AP and was similar to that of AA. We conclude that AP is biologically active, as it generates the ascorbyl radical, an action that also underlies the scavenging process by ascorbic acid. To this end, ascorbyl-6-palmitate might have potential advantages, due to its ability to penetrate biomembranes and to act at the lipid-related molecular target sites.
Capillaria (Hepatocapillaria) cichlasomae sp. п., parasitic in the liver of the cichlid Cichlasoma urophthalmus (Günther) from a small freshwater lake ("aguada") Xpoc in Yucatan, Mexico, is described. The parasite is characterized mainly by its small body size (male 1.8 mm, female 4.5 mm), the structure of the stichosome (markedly short stichocytes in one row) and the male (the presence of a pair of small subventral postanal papillae) and female (anus distinctly subterminal) caudal ends, and by the size and structure of the spicule (spicule 0.068-0.085 mm long, with marked transverse grooves on surface) and eggs (size 0.053-0.058 x 0.023 mm, with protruding polar plugs). This is the second known Capillaria species from the liver of fish and the first one from the liver of a freshwater fish.
Two species of the genus Baruscapillaria Moravec, 1982 are known to parasitise the small intestine of the common cormorant, Phalacrocorax carbo (L.): Baruscapillaria carbonis (Dubinin et Dubinina, 1940) and B. rudolphii Moravec, Scholz et Našincová, 1994. A redescription of the former species, based on specimens collected from common cormorants shot in South Bohemia, Czech Republic, is provided. Morphological features distinguishing B. carbonis and B. rudolphii are specified. B. carbonis is characterised mainly by the well-developed membranous bursa in the male, composed of five distinct lobes (four lateral and one spur-shaped dorsal); the length of the spicule is 1.9-2.3 mm; gravid females are provided with a long vulvar appendage. Males of B. rudolphii have reduced, bi-lobed membranous bursa and the spicule is 0.9-1.3 mm long; the vulvar appendage is absent in gravid females. This is the first record of B. carbonis in the Czech Republic.
A new capillariid nematode, Capillostrongyloides morae sp. n., is described from specimens collected from the stomach and intestine of the common mora, Mora moro (Risso), and the Mediterranean codling, Lepidion lepidion (Risso) (both Gadiformes, Moridae), off the Mediterranean coasts of Spain. The new species shows similar morphological features as other congeneric species occurring in freshwater and marine fishes, but it differs in the length of the body and spicules, the size of the caudal bursa, and the presence of an elevated anterior vulvar lip. Capillostrongyloides morae sp. n. is the second species within the genus for which the presence of a stylet is reported, and the first one in which this structure along with the distribution of cephalic papillae and oral structures (e.g. lips and lobes) are clearly shown by using scanning electron microscopy.