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EXTRACELLULAR LIPID DROPLETS PROMOTE HEMOZOIN CRYSTALLIZATION IN THE GUT OF THE BLOOD FLUKE SCHISTOSOMA MANSONI
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Abstract
Hemozoin (Hz) is a heme crystal produced upon
hemoglobin digestion as the main mechanism of heme disposal
in several hematophagous organisms. Here, we show that, in
the helminth Schistosoma mansoni, Hz formation occurs in
extracellular lipid droplets (LDs). Transmission electron microscopy
of adult worms revealed the presence of numerous electronlucent
round structures similar to LDs in gut lumen, where
multicrystalline Hz assemblies were found associated to their
surfaces. Female regurgitates promoted Hz formation in vitro
in reactions partially inhibited by boiling. Fractionation of regurgitates
showed that Hz crystallization activity was essentially
concentrated on lower density fractions, which have small
amounts of pre-formed Hz crystals, suggesting that hydrophilic–
hydrophobic interfaces, and not Hz itself, play a key catalytic
role in Hz formation in S. mansoni. Thus, these data
demonstrate that LDs present in the gut lumen of S. mansoni
support Hz formation possibly by allowing association of heme
to the lipid–water interface of these structures
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