Prefácio / Preface
the malacologicalstudies by Adolpho Lutz
Wladimir Lobato Paraense
SciELO Books / SciELO Livros / SciELO Libros
BENCHIMOL, JL., and SÁ, MR., eds. and orgs. Adolpho Lutz: Outros estudos em zoologia = Other
studies in zoology [online]. Rio de Janeiro: Editora FIOCRUZ, 2007. 584p. Adolpho Lutz Obra
Completa, v.3, book 4. ISBN 978-85-7541-110-0. Available from SciELO Books
<http://books.scielo.org>.
All the contents of this work, except where otherwise noted, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non
Commercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported.
Todo o conteúdo deste trabalho, exceto quando houver ressalva, é publicado sob a licença Creative Commons Atribuição Uso Não Comercial - Partilha nos Mesmos Termos 3.0 Não adaptada.
Todo el contenido de esta obra, excepto donde se indique lo contrario, está bajo licencia de la licencia Creative Commons
Reconocimento-NoComercial-CompartirIgual 3.0 Unported.
voltar ao sumário
OUTROS ESTUDOS EM ZOOLOGIA
17
The malacological
studies by
Adolpho Lutz
The malacological studies by Adolpho Lutz were preceded by research
on schistosomiasis since 1916, nine years after Sambon proposed the name
Schistosomum mansoni for the agent of the intestinal form of the parasite,
and eight years after its identification, in Brazil, by Pirajá da Silva. It is
worth noting that Lutz studied the subject during the First World War,
when he knew little about the research done by Leiper in Egypt and
published between 1915 and 1918. Lutz only read Leiper’s articles when
his own research was well advanced and he had already reproduced the
whole life cycle of the parasite. Lutz and Oswino Pena conducted
observations in endemic regions in Northeast Brazil and studied almost
every species of Brazilian planorbids. The malacological section of Lutz’
scientific production was the subject given to me in this edition of his Obra
Completa.
Malacology, according to Lutz, is condensed in the article “Caramujos
de água doce do gênero Planorbis, observados no Brazil” (“Fresh water
snails, gender Planorbis observed in Brazil”), published in 1918 in
Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz. Fourteen nominal species from seven
States, from Pará to Rio de Janeiro, are described and discussed. Besides
these species, the article contains a list of the planorbids found in other
South-American countries (Argentina, Bolívia, Equador, Peru, Uruguay,
and Venezuela) and mentioned in current literature, and an appendix
with the original descriptions of 14 nominal species copied from Orbigny
(9), Lesson (1), Moricand (1), Dunker (2), and Martens (1).
Lutz’ monograph is here carefully illustrated, with drawings by Castro
Silva and Rudolf Fischer, showing the front and both sides of shells in
voltar ao sumário
18
ADOLPHO LUTZ — OBRA COMPLETA z Vol. 3 — Livro 4
diametric cut, and the surface of the soft parts seen through the shell. The
presentation of diametric cuts is an innovation that shows the contours of
the shell’s spirals and their arrangement. Unfortunately, he did not adopt
anatomic investigation especially for the reproductive system, as already
done by some important authors of the time. Nonetheless, the detailed
description of shells and the figures allow for the recognition of almost all
of the species he mentioned, particularly of two of the three transmitters
of Schistosoma mansoni: Biomphalaria glabrata and B. tenagophila.
Six of the 14 nominal species in this work were described by Lutz and
are nowadays considered as synonyms: Planorbis centimetralis =
Biomphalaria straminea; Planorbis confusus, after (Lutz 1923) emended
to Planorbis immunis = Biomphalaria tenagophila; Planorbis nigrilabris
and Planorbis incertus = Biomphalaria schrammi; Planorbis melleus and
Planorbis nigellus = Drepanotrema anatinum.
As a guest of the Venezuelan government, Lutz studied important
aspects of zoology and parasitology in that country, with emphasis on
molluscs and trematodes (Lutz, 1928). Except for the Biomphalaria prona,
which does not transmit the Schistosoma, he found other species of molluscs
that also occurred in Brazil.
Besides his malacological research, Adolpho Lutz studied the
relationships between molluscs and trematodes, describing more than 20
species of cercaria (e.g. Lutz, 1933).
Well-acquainted with Brazilian malacological fauna as he was, he
confirmed Leiper’s results from Egypt with planorbids in Brazil. Lutz
studied the egg and the miracidia with detail, and observed their
penetration in several fresh water molluscs and development through
sporocyst stages until the formation of cercaria with bifurcated tails. He
also recognized Planorbis olivaceus and P. guadaloupensis (both being
synonyms for Biomphalaria glabrata), and P. centimetralis (synonym of
Biomphalaria straminea) as intermediary hosts, signalling the main
lesions produced by their parasites. Lutz described the cercaria he identified
as Cercaria blanchardi discovered by Pirajá da Silva (1912), by observing
the conditions they were released from the mollusc body and their
penetration in laboratory animals. He confirmed the characterization of
adult warms made by Pirajá da Silva and Leiper. Finally, he occupied
himself with human and experimental infection in the symptomathological,
pathogenic, anatomopathological, therapeutic, and prophylactic aspects.
voltar ao sumário
OUTROS ESTUDOS EM ZOOLOGIA
19
As a curiosity, I would like to refer to the technique recommended by
Lutz for the research on eggs of Schistosoma in feces. In his 1919 work on
the Schistosoma mansoni, the following is in parenthesis:
“(The exam becomes easier after the repetitive washing of the feces,
followed by simple sedimentation or centrifugation. To these we combine
the use of wire tissue and miller’s gauze to retain all of the coarser bodies.
This way we obtain a sediment containing almost exclusively amylaceous
corpuscles and parasite eggs that are easy to examine).”
This process is usually mentioned in the literature as the Hoffman,
Pons and Janer method.
W. Lobato Paraense
Head of Malacology Laboratory
Instituto Oswaldo Cruz / Fundação Oswaldo Cruz
References
Lutz, A. Caramujos de água doce do gênero Planorbis, observados no Brazil. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz,
v.10, p.65-82, 1918.
Lutz, A. O Schistosomum mansoni e a schistosomatose segundo observações feitas no Brasil. Mem. Inst.
Oswaldo Cruz, v.11, p.121-55, 1919.
Lutz, A. Planorbis immunis n.n. Nautilus, v.37, p.36, 1923.
Lutz. A. Moluscos de agua Dulce recogidos y observados en Venezuela. In. In: Estúdios de zoologia y
parasitologia venezolanas. Rio de Janeiro, 1928, p.75-89
Lutz, A. Notas sobre Dicranocercarias brasileiras. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz, v.27, p.349-76, 1933.
Pirajá da Silva, M. A. Cercaire brésilienne (Cercaria blanchardi) à queue bifurquée. Archives de
Parasitologie v.15, p.398-400, 1912.