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The role of the haemolymph in the carbohydrate metabolism of Carcinus Maenas

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

Adele J. Williams  and
Peter L. Lutz
Adele J. Williams*
Affiliation:
Animal Physiology, School of Biological Sciences, Bath University
Peter L. Lutz
Affiliation:
Animal Physiology, School of Biological Sciences, Bath University
*
*Present address: Department of Zoology, Bristol University, Bristol.
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Extract

The importance of the blood in crustacean metabolism was first raised by Johnston, Davies & Elder in 1971. Until then the conventional view had been that the crab hepatopancreas had a role similar to that of the vertebrate liver (Vonk, 1960), the blood presumably acting as a carrier of soluble sugars. It has recently been shown, however, that blood tissue holds almost four times the amount of polysaccharide than the hepatopancreas and that glucose is actively incorporated into glycogen in the blood (Johnston & Davies, 1972). Polysaccharides were located in deposits in the haematocytes (Johnston, Elder & Davies, 1973). Many previous studies have shown that the main plasma sugar, glucose, varies widely in concentration and appears very sensitive to the animals physio-logical state (see Hohnke & Scheer, 1970). It would seem, therefore, that glucose metabolism in crabs may be readily modified and that by looking at the effect of a physiological stress (starvation and feeding) on the blood/hepatopancreas system one might get some information on the dynamic relationship between these two organs. Previous work (P. L. Lutz, unpublished) had shown that in Carcinus maenas plasma glucose could fall to negligible values on prolonged starvation.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 55 , Issue 3 , August 1975 , pp. 667 - 670
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1975

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References

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