The present study evaluated the possible effects of a toxic dinoflagellate, Karenia selliformis, upon immunological hemocyte functions of the Manila clam Ruditapes philippinarum, and on the progression of infection by Perkinsus olseni. Clams with variable levels of perkinsosis were exposed for 6 weeks to simulated blooms of cultured the K. selliformis (10(2) and 10(3)cell ml(-1)). Samples were ...

Background: The peripheral leucocyte count is an important predictor of morbidity and mortality. Hence, host and environmental factors influencing the peripheral leukocyte count are of interest. The influence of smoking on Total Leucocyte Count and Differential Leucocyte Count was investigated. Aims & Objective: To see the influence of smoking on Total Leucocyte Count (TLC) and Differential Leu...

The Atlantic jackknife clam, Ensis directus, is currently being researched as a potential species for aquaculture operations in Maine. The goal of this study was to describe the hemocytes of this species for the first time and provide a morphological classification scheme. We viewed hemocytes under light microscopy (using Hemacolor, neutral red, and Pappenheim's stains) as well as transmission ...

BACKGROUND Ixodes ricinus is the main tick vector of the microbes that cause Lyme disease and tick-borne encephalitis in Europe. Pathogens transmitted by ticks have to overcome innate immunity barriers present in tick tissues, including midgut, salivary glands epithelia and the hemocoel. Molecularly, invertebrate immunity is initiated when pathogen recognition molecules trigger serum or cellula...

BACKGROUND Insects have multiple hemocyte morphotypes with different functions as do vertebrates, however, their hematopoietic lineages are largely unexplored with the exception of Drosophila melanogaster. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS To study the hematopoietic lineage of the silkworm, Bombyx mori, we investigated in vivo and in vitro differentiation of hemocyte precursors in the hematopoie...

Pacific oysters, Crassostrea gigas, are commonly reared in estuaries where they are exposed to anthropogenic pollution. Much research has been made on the toxicity of cadmium to aquatic organisms because the compound recurrently contaminates their environment. Our study examined the influence of cadmium on aneuploidy level (lowered chromosome number in a percentage of somatic cells) and hemocyt...

The aim of this study was to test the effect of food quantity on energy storage and defense capacities of oysters during a reproductive cycle. One-year-old Crassostrea gigas oysters were fed two different dietary rations (4% and 12% of oyster dry weight in algal dry weight per day) in controlled experimental conditions over an annual cycle. Oyster dry weights, carbohydrate and lipid contents, e...

In their encounters with foreign intruders, the cells of the insect innate immune system, like those of the mammalian immune system, exhibit both humoral and cell-mediated responses. Some intruders can be dispatched by the humoral immune system alone, but many must be phagocytosed by individual hemocytes or encapsulated by interacting hemocytes. Surface proteins of hemocytes control the abrupt ...