Preview

Leeches in Medicine

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
652 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Leeches in Medicine
Leeches in medicine
Leeches belong to the phylum Annelida, class Hirudinea. They are exoparasites, meaning that they are located on the skin surface. Leeches feed on blood, they use suckers to attach on their hosts skin. They are dorso-ventrally flattened, have segmented bodies = each leech has a fixed number of segments – 34. 2 suckers are located at each end of the body (posterior and anterior). Leeches are hermaphrodites.
Leaches are bilaterally symmetrical, with thick muscular segmented bodies. They can be found in water like rivers, lakes, or ponds. But they can’t live in salt water like beaches, oceans, and seas. Leeches vary in shape. They can be from 6mm to 20cm long.
They have a coelom (body cavity) filled in with tissue. A clitellum used for reproduction (fertilized eggs are deposited in it). They have photoreceptor cells (sensory organ) that are used as simple eyes.
As mentioned before leeches feed on blood of their hosts. Blood is a bodily fluid that we can find in the circulatory system. The important functions of blood are: to supply tissues with oxygen and nutrients (glucose, amino acids and fatty acids), removal of waste (carbon dioxide, lactic acid), blood clotting, fighting against bacteria and viruses (immune system). Blood is made up of: blood plasma (carries nutrients, proteins and hormones) red blood cells (carry oxygen to whole body), white blood cells (fight infection), platelets (blood clotting, prevents you from bleeding out).
Even though leeches may seem as useless worms, the truth is very different. They have been used in medicine for centuries and still used nowadays. They are used in surgery mainly, to reattach body parts that have been cut off mainly because of accidents. Without leaches it would be very hard to reattach a cut off body part like a finger, toe, or ear because of the nerves and veins that are bleeding and swollen. Even if doctors try to sew them back in place, blood circulation to this part is halted because of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Good Essays

    Hms Challenger Journal

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The ship set sail from Portsmouth, England early yesterday morning and we have been sailing for almost a whole 24 hours; I’m assuming we’re about 40 degrees north of the equator. It’s a perfect day out for sailing, the water is crystal blue, my hair is softly blowing though the wind, and there’s not a cloud in sight. Today my job was to use a dredge. A dredge takes samples along the surface of the seafloor while being dragged across the bottom. I didn’t have much luck today finding large organisms other than a few normal fish, but we did bring up some mud with insects living in it. The insects were tiny seemed to have been feeding on the mud. They looked to be worms with legs. Only much slimmer than worms…

    • 498 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Biology By2 Revision

    • 2218 Words
    • 9 Pages

    = organisms that live on or in another organism obtaining nourishment at the expense of the host and causing harm. Gut parasite (Taenia solium) = tapeworm Primary host = human (eat uncooked infected pork) Secondary host = pig (drainage channels contaminated by human faeces) Adaptations… - Suckers & hookers (attachment) - Body covering (immune responses) - Thick cuticle (inhibitory substances = enzymes) - Simple body systems (reproduction) - Very thin & large surface area (food absorbed over whole body surface = diffusion) - Male & female sex organs (gut can only accommodate 1 tapeworm) - Number of eggs produced (increase chance of survival) - Eggs have resistant shells (survive until eaten) Dormant embryos can form cysts in organs - damage surrounding tissue…

    • 2218 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Parasites feed off the host it’s inhabiting, it uses the nourishment from the flesh to survive.…

    • 648 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Jab 4 Histology

    • 1701 Words
    • 7 Pages

    What are the characteristics of epithelial tissue? it never has contact with another cell, it always has a free surface. They contain no blood vessels (avascular) and depend on underlying tissues for needed nutrients and oxygen sources to maintain homeostasis. it is usually very thin for this reason. The cells are tightly packed together. composed almost entirely of cells. apical and basal surfaces…

    • 1701 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    Please pay special attention to properties like shapes, sizes, colors, textures, relationships among structures, plus any interesting or identifiable features. You may want to make drawings of slides so that you would be able to identify this tissue in the future.…

    • 981 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Cells: cell membrane, nucleus, cytoplasm; organelles – mitochondria, endoplasmic reticulum (smooth and rough), Golgi apparatus, lysosome…

    • 1534 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Powerful Essays

    Barbers Poll Worm Essay

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Ectoparasites are external parasites that live on the outside of an organism’s body. These parasites feed on the blood of an animal. When the parasites attach themselves to the outer layer of the organism’s skin they remain there for their entire life thriving off the host and entirely depend on the host for nourishment. Ecto parasites usually live in colonies and make nests on the hosts skin rapidly multiplying…

    • 1105 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Powerful Essays
  • Good Essays

    Chapter 3 The Body

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages

    It has many “little organs” in them called organelles. Organelles have very specific functions. One example of an organelle is the mitochondria.…

    • 410 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Medicinal Leeches

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages

    Over the years, people have been more and more conscious about the expensive prices of farmaceutical drugs. Either is it for a simple cough, headache or blood pressure problems, all we hear is how much everything costs. Starting to think about it and talking to elderly people, we found out that majority of them would still like to get their hands on Russian drugs, which they say have more effect and are cheaper, because they are made in Russia. Let us also draw our attention to the fact, that the expensiveness situation does not only go for the elderly, but young people as well. We have found a solution, grown in our own backyard, processed in our own country, works for a dozen of diagnoses – medicinal leeches! For thousands of years, medicinal leeches have been one of the primary cures for many diseases. The following list brings out the main diagnoses which adobt to hirudotherapy like a charm: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. high blood pressure, liver problems, bronchitis and astma, chronical hepatitis, chronical constipation, hemorrhoids and radicular pain, mao ja kaheteistsoole tõbi (tõlkimata), gynecological problems, pancreas infection, tromboflebitis, stenocardia, infarct, cardiac insufficiency, prostate diseases, eye diseases.…

    • 545 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    AP I exam study guide

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages

    Given a particular type of tissue, state its general functions and/or where it would be found.…

    • 372 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Size and shape the number of cell layers, shape of the cells, whether the cells are ciliated or unciliated.…

    • 893 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    unit 3 lecture study guide

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages

    Epithelial Tissue: covers all free body surfaces and lines organs, anchored to connective tissue by basement membrane, lacks blood vessels, can reproduce…

    • 1386 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    bacteria. It is to help give the body more of a natural look and feeling after death. Like…

    • 1720 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    A chromosome is necessary so that there is a “map” of the cells function and structure, cytoplasm is necessary as it is where most of the cell’s activity occurs, ribosomes are essential as they are the site of protein synthesis, which powers the activities of the cells, and the cell membrane is needed to give the cell structure and protection. Most cells have other structures based upon their function, and these extra structures are necessary in order for that cell to perform it’s function.…

    • 459 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Janitor fish or the scientifically known as Hypostomus plecostomus is also commonly called Suckerfish, Sucker mouth Catfish or Pleco. Janitor fishes feed on algae, aquatic weeds, small crustaceans and other aquatic creatures. Moreover, janitor fishes would easily adapt in an environment where there is food. These fishes are peaceful in nature, thus, in an aquarium set-up; they can live with other fishes but are aggressive with fishes of the same kind. It was called such because of its sucking-like mouth. This specie originated from the Tropical Central America and South America. It usually dwells in fresh running waters and salty waters of river mouths. This specie is of no value as food, yet it is in demand in the aquarium industry in United States, Singapore, Hong Kong and even in the Philippines. .…

    • 1910 Words
    • 8 Pages
    Better Essays

Related Topics