A COMPARISON OF THE ULTRASTRUCTURAL ASPECTS OF MACROGAMETOGENIC STAGES OF 2 EIMERIA SPECIES OF GOATS (CAPRA-HIRCUS)

Eimeria christenseni and Eimeria arloingi were used separately to infe ct one month-old goat kids which were then killed 34 days post-infecti on. Their small intestines contained small nodular lesions made of sev eral endogenous stages mainly macrogametocytes and macrogametes. Elect ron microscope studies of macrogametocytes revealed a prominent centra l nucleus and nucleolus. Other cellular components were mitochondria, wall forming bodies (WFB) type 1 (homogenous) and type 2 (reticular). Polysaccharide granules of E. christenseni had a chain like arrangemen t in the young cells, and increased dramatically with maturation of th e macrogametes to become the main cytoplasmic component along with the WEB. Type 1 WFB were peripheral while type 2 were more central but in E. christenseni macrogametes, some type 2 WFB appeared to give rise t o membranous vesicles at the areas of wall formation. The macrogamete nucleus was small, and usually indented with polysaccharide granules a nd reticular bodies, named nuclear derived bodies (NDB), arising from the perinuclear regions. Within the periparasitic areas of both specie s, membranous/dark bodies were seen. E. arloingi had a large and well defined parasitophorous vacuole (PV), within which an inner lighter, a nd outer layer with dark granules were found. Both species had some po orly developed intravacuolar tubules (IVT), which occurred at certain points in the case of E. arloingi, while in E. christenseni, they had a diffuse distribution.