PHOSPHATASES AND THEIR SIGNIFICANCE IN EIMERIA
                                TENELLA RAILLIET AND LUCET, 1891

  By B. S. GILL and H. N. RAY*, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Mukteswar,
                                              Kumaon, U. P.

                          (Received for publication on 29 July 1954)

                                           (With Plate XIII)

RAY and Gill [1954] reported their preliminary observations on the distribution
of alkaline phosphatase in various endogenous stages of Eimeria tenella.
The enzymic studies were extended to acid phosphatase and 5-nucleotidase. These
observations and significance of the three phosphatases are reported in this article.

Acid phosphatase has been reported from Entamoeba histolytica [Carrera and
Changus, 1948 ; Carrera, 1950], but so far it has not been reported from coccidia.

5-Nucleotidase has been described from various mammalian tissues [Reis,
1937a, 1937b ; Gulland and Jackson, 1938 ; Newman, et al., 1950 ; Bragdon and
McManus, 1952], but it has not been described from protozoa so far.

                                             PROCEDURE

White Leghorn chicks, 1-2 weeks old, kept coccidia-free, were infected per os
with large doses of a 'pure-line', sporulated brew of E. tenella. They were sacrificed
at 4-hourly intervals from the 1st to 8th day of infection. Their caeca were harvested
with least loss of time. Small pieces (2-3 mm.) of caeca, and smears of mucosal
scrapings were promptly fixed in chilled acetone.

Glick's revised technique [1949] was used for demonstrating acid phosphatase.
Technique of McManus, et al., [1952—cited by Bragdon & McManus, 1952] was
employed for locating 5-nucleotidase both in sections and smear preparations.

                                             OBSERVATIONS

Both acid phosphatase and 5-nucleotidase were present in karyosome at all
stages of the coccidium. In microgametes they were located in the comma-shaped
body. The former enzyme was also present in nuclear membrane and in some cases
also in the Golgi region (ante-nuclear area 2-3 µ long-reported elsewhere) of the
second generation merozoites.

Unlike alkaline phosphatase, no regional difference in the reaction of healthy
and parasitised caecal tissue for acid phosphatase and 5-nucleotidase could be
observed.

                                             DISCUSSION

Phosphatases are a group of enzymes which catalyse (1) hydrolysis and synthesis
of monoesters, diesters, pyrophosphates, phosphoamides, and anhydrides of organic

*At present Professor of Protozoology, School of Tropical Medicine, Calcutta.

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