The Nature of the Metabolic Processes in Ascaris lumbricoides

IT is generally accepted that the oxidation of part of the lactic acid produced in muscular contraction and the siinultaneous conversion of the rest of the lactic acid into glycogen form an essential part of muscular metabolism.If these conclusions are correct the existence of an organism which requires no oxygen for its metabolism, and yet is supplied with muscles having a normal contractile mechanism, is unlikely, unless by some means the oxidative recovery phase is dispensed with and the lactic acid removed by diffusion into the vascular system and ultimately excreted.The latter process would be a costly one, liberating less than a tenth of the total energy in the original glycogen.Weinland [1901], however, maintains that the intestinal worm Ascaris lumbricoides does not require oxygen for its metabolism and lives equally well in atmospheres of inert gases, whilst on the other hand, it is well known that this worm is capable of marked muscular movement.In explanation of the source from which the energy is derived, Weinland puts forward the suggestion that a process nearly allied to fermentation takes the place of the ordinary aerobic metabolism.The present work was undertaken in the first place to test the accuracy of Weinland's conclusions in respect to the anaerobiosis of Ascaris, and in the second place if the worm proved to be truly anaerobic to investigate the nature of the muscular process involved.The investigation was not carried beyond the first stage as evidence was forthcoming which rendered doubtful the anaerobiosis of the worms, and precluded entirely the possibility of work in the absence of oxygen or its equivalent.It seems advisable before proceeding to the description of the experimental work to recapitulate briefly the evidence on which the anaerobiosis is based.Bunge [1884, 1890] states that various types of intestinal worms can live for periods of 5-6 days in the absence of air, but that they become dormant and refuse to move.Weinland [1901] repeated these experiments using a variety of gases, and states that the worms remain alive for periods up to 9 days quite independent of the surrounding gas, except that in carbon