[Attachment of horse cecum Ciliata to plant fragments. Degradation of chloroplasts. Attachment of bacteria to cecal Ciliata].

Cecum microfauna association with different plant tissues was examined by scanning and transmission electron microscopy. The ciliates were attached to the damaged areas of the leaves and their highest concentrations were found on the epidermis and mesophyll tissues. The degradation of plant tissue was due to protozoal ingestion of the plant fragments. The morphology of ingested envacuolized chloroplasts changed rapidly, showing different stages of digestion inside the ciliate endoplasm. Intact chloroplasts were rarely observed but the grana of fragmented thylakoid membranes was often seen. The chloroplasts then appeared in concentric rings resembling pseudomyelinic figures. Plastoglobuli indicated the chloroplastic origin of these figures. Cecum microflora association with the microfauna showed that the different morphological types of cecal bacteria had three ways of attaching: some appeared to be attached via small amounts of extracellular material and some by capsule - like material; others (bacilli), due to an electron-dense outer layer, were observed to adhere so closely that they conformed to the shape of the ciliate.