RESUMO
The concentration of carbohydrates, proteins, and lipids in the whole worm, gut, and body musculature of Fasciola gigantica was investigated from worms collected from cattle slaughtered in the Jos abattoir. Protein accounted for the highest concentration of the constituents constituting 62.59 +/- 0.86% of the dry weight of the fluke. This was followed by lipid with 28.15 +/- 0.86% of the dry weight while carbohydrate (glycogen) was 6.29 +/- 0.11% of the dry weight. Thin-layer chromatography revealed the presence of six distinct bands of neutral lipids, namely: monoglycerides, 1,2-diglycerides, 1,3-diglycerides, free fatty acids, triglycerides and sterol esters from both whole worm homogenate and fractions of the gut and muscle tissues. In the case of phospholipids, lysophosphatidyl choline, sphingomyeline, phosphatidyl choline and phosphatidyl-ethanol amine were recovered. When the free fatty acids were subjected to further fractionation, palmitic, stearic, as well as oleic acids were recovered in appreciable quantities indicating that lipids are being catabolized in these trematodes.
