Laboratory Exercise No.

10
PROTOZOA

Eukaryotic organisms have a nucleus in a membrane. They are typically more complex than prokaryotic
organisms. They make up the Domain Eukarya and include the major kingdoms of Protista, Fungi,
Plantae and Animalia.

Protista represent the first eukaryotic organisms to evolve. Protista is a diverse group that includes
many different types of organisms, divided into the animal-like protists, or protozoa, and the plant-like
protists, or algae. Protozoa are examples of Protistans that we will survey in this lab.

Majority of the species comprising Kingdom Protista are unicellular. Even though most of them are
unicellular, they can carry out all of the basic life processes, from cellular respiration to reproduction,
within a single cell.

General Characteristics of Protozoa: eukaryotic; unicellular organisms; aquatic habitats; lack a cell wall,
but have a membrane called pellicle; may have specific structures to help in movement: pseudopodia,
flagella, cilia; aerobic; holozoic nutrition (ingest food particles); some are parasitic and cause diseases in
humans and animals.

Protozoa are classified into four groups based on the presence and type of locomotory organelle they
possess:
1. Sarcodina (amoebae)– pseudopodia (false feet – cytoplasmic outflowings that help the
organism move and to obtain food);
2. Mastigophora (flagellates) – have whip-like structures called flagella, move by undulations);
3. Ciliophora (ciliates) – have short hair-like structures distributed over the surface to help in
locomotion.
4. Apicomplexa (sporozoans) - have no means of locomotion and therefore have a lifestyle that
makes them all internal parasites.

Objectives: At the end of the experiment, the student must be able to:
1. Differentiate between ciliate, flagellate, and amoeboid protistans by their movement.
2. Identify structures that are unique to each group and describe their function.

Materials: Prepared slides of Giardia lamblia trophozoite, Balantidium coli trophozoite/Paramecium,

Amoeba proteus, Trypanosoma, Plasmodium, pond water/hay infusion, Pasteur pipette, glass slides,
cover slips

Procedure:
1. Look at the prepared slides of Paramecium, Amoeba, and other available protozoa.
2. Or make wet mounts of live Paramecium, Amoeba, and other available protozoa from pond
water.
1. To get a good sample, use the pipette and draw up from the bottom of the container or in “the
gunk” to get your specimen. Do NOT stir the specimen container first.
2. Start with the 10x lens and go to 40x lens. Oil-immersion will magnify too much for most pond
water protozoa.
3. Once you have found your specimen, adjust the iris diaphragm for even better viewing.
4. Also look at the prepared blood slides of Trypanosoma and Plasmodium using the 100x oil
immersion lens.
5. Trypanosoma will be easy to see: it is far larger than the red blood cells. However, Plasmodium
will be difficult since the parasite will be inside of the RBCs.
NAME: DATE PERFORMED:
Section: DATE SUBMITTED: ____________
Group number:

Laboratory Exercise No. 10

PROTOZOA

RESULTS:
Label all structures possessed by each representative protozoa:

Organism: _____________________________

It is pear-shaped. Body length ranges from 9 to 21 μm, width from 5 to 15 μm. It is bilaterally
symmetrical, each structure being paired. The dorsal surface is convex; the ventral surfaceis usually
concave but is occasionally flat, and the anterior portion of the ventral surface of the organism is
modified to form a sucking disk, a nucleus lies in the center of the disk of each half. The trophozoite has
four pairs of flagella: anterior, ventral, posterior and caudal.

Organism: _____________________________
In trophozoites, the two nuclei are visible. The macronucleus is long and sausage-shaped, and the
spherical micronucleus is nested next to it, often hidden by the macronucleus. The opening, known as
the peristome, at the pointed anterior end leads to the cytostome, or the mouth.

Organism: _____________________________

Structure list: anal pore/cytopyge, contractile vacuole, cytoplasm, cilia, food vacuole, oral groove,
pellicle, macronucleus, micronucleus

6. Pellicle: It is a thin flexible and living membrane which maintains its shape. The cytoplasm is
differentiated into outer ecotoplasm and inner endoplasm.
7. Cilia: Numerous cilia are distributed over the body surface. The cilia of the extreme posterior
end are longer and form a bunch called caudal tuft. Cilia are for locomotion, food capture and
are also tactile in function (respond to touch).
8. Trichocysts: These are fusiform bodies which are found in the ectoplasm just below the pellicle.
When a trichocyst is discharged, its shoots out at body surface trough the pellicle pores in the
form of a long needle-like thread. The discharged trichocyst serve for anchoring defence, or it
may be a reaction to injury.
9. Feeding Apparatus: It consists of a shallow and wide peristome (= oral groove), a funnel-like
vestibule, somewhat S-shaped buccal cavity which opens through a cytostome (= cell mouth),
into a short cytopharynx. The latter ends in the endoplasm.
10. A temporary opening is called cytopyge (= cytoproct or cell anus), is present a little behind the
cytostome. Undigested food is passed through cytopyge.
11. Nuclei: Paramecium caudatum contains a single large macronucleus (= meganucleus) and one
small micronucleus. The macronucleus controls metabolism such as, feeding and maintenance,
whereas the micronucleus takes an important role in reproduction.
12. Contractile Vacuoles and Radial Canals: Paramecium contains two contractile vacuoles which
have fixed position. One contractile vacuole is present near the anterior and while another
contractile vacuole is found towards posterior end of the body. Each contractile vacuole is
surrounded by 5 to 12 radial canals (feeding canals). Excess water is transferred from the
cytoplasm to the radial canals, which pour water into the contractile vacuole. The contractile
vacuole expels water outside the body. Thus the contractile vacuoles and radial canals are for
osmoregulation. The anterior and posterior contractile vacuole contract alternately.
13. Food Vacuoles: Several non contractile food vacuoles (= gastrioles) are seen moving along
definite course (cyclosis) within the endoplasm. Each food vacuole consists of a definite vacuolar
membrane and food particles. The food vacuoles are meant for intracellular digestion.
 Organism: _____________________________

1. Cell membrane: surface of the ectoplasm in contact with the water; controls the entry and exit
of substances into and out of the cytoplasm
2. Cytoplasm: the living substance in which all the chemical reactions necessary for life are carried
out.
Ectoplasm is a clear gel-like layer enclosing the endoplasm which is more fluid and contains granules
and other inclusions.
3. Nucleus: round or ovoid finely granulated body, may be found in the endoplasm; controls most
of the reactions taking place in the cell and plays a vital part in cell division.
4. Contractile vacuole: small, spherical, transparent vesicle which upon reaching a certain size
contracts and disappears. The concentration of solutes in the cytoplasm is greater than that in
the surrounding fresh water, so water tends to enter the cytoplasm by osmosis via the partially
permeable cell membrane. This excess water collects in the contractile vacuole which swells and
discharges its contents to the outside from time to time.
5. Pseudopodium: (‘false foot’), a protuberance from the surface of the amoeba into which the
cytoplasm flows; in this way the amoeba moves about over the mud at the bottom of the pond.
6. Food vacuole: microscopic organisms are taken into the cytoplasm with a drop of water forming
a temporary vacuole; these organisms are then digested.

Study Questions:
1. Short but concise answers must be placed after every question.
2. Cite your references.

1. Compare and contrast the three mechanisms of motility displayed by protozoa.

2. Trypanosoma and Plasmodium are both found in blood. What diseases do these microbes cause?
3. Describe the life cycle of Plasmodium. Include a diagram/illustration.