This study attempts to investigate the relationship between the hemocytes in the two compartments: circulating peripheral lymph and the connective tissues. The hemocytes are compared with the vertebrate macrophages and constitute the principal line of defense against external aggression. The hemocytes were counted in circulating hemolymph and their phagocytic capability was evaluated in Schisto...

The molluscan exoskeleton (shell) plays multiple important roles including structural support, protection from predators and stressors, and physiological homeostasis. Shell formation is a tightly regulated biological process that allows molluscs to build their shells even in environments unfavorable for mineral precipitation. Outer mantle edge epithelial cells (OME) and hemocytes were implicate...

Insects counter infection with innate immune responses that rely on cells called hemocytes. Hemocytes exist in association with the insect's open circulatory system and this mode of existence has likely influenced the organization and control of anti-pathogen immune responses. Previous studies reported that pathogens in the mosquito body cavity (hemocoel) accumulate on the surface of the heart....

Several signaling pathways, including the JAK/STAT and Toll pathways, are known to activate blood cells (hemocytes) in Drosophila melanogaster larvae. They are believed to regulate the immune response against infections by parasitoid wasps, such as Leptopilina boulardi, but how these pathways control the hemocytes is not well understood. Here, we discuss the recent discovery that both muscles a...

Cell migration has been studied extensively in vitro, however, fewer studies address this subject in vivo. Our aim is to determine in vivo, the role of the actin regulatory protein, Ena. To enable this we are studying Drosophila hemocytes in the developing embryo. Hemocytes are the primary immune cells of Drosophila and during development they follow stereotyped pathways to distribute throughou...

Cell migration has been studied extensively in vitro, however, fewer studies address this subject in vivo. Our aim is to determine in vivo, the role of the actin regulatory protein, Ena. To enable this we are studying Drosophila hemocytes in the developing embryo. Hemocytes are the primary immune cells of Drosophila and during development they follow stereotyped pathways to distribute throughou...

Trehalose in ectoderms functions in energy metabolism and protection in extreme environmental conditions. We structurally characterized trehalose 6-phosphate synthase (TPS) from hemocytes of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus. C. sapidus Hemo TPS (CasHemoTPS), like insect TPS, encodes both TPS and trehalose phosphate phosphatase domains. Trehalose seems to be a major sugar, as it shows higher l...

We use the Drosophila melanogaster larval hematopoietic system as an in vivo model for the genetic and functional genomic analysis of oncogenic cell overproliferation. Ras regulates cell proliferation and differentiation in multicellular eukaryotes. To further elucidate the role of activated Ras in cell overproliferation, we generated a collagen promoter-Gal4 strain to overexpress Ras(V12) in D...

The adhesion of hemocytes plays an important role in the innate immunity of abalones. According to the results from this study, several conclusions about the role of PKA (protein kinase A) in the adhesion of abalone hemocytes. First, during cell adhesion, the amount of cAMP decreased in hemocytes. Second, elevation of cAMP inhibited cell adhesion. Third, the PKA inhibitor KT5720 enhanced the ce...

Contact reaction is the morphological expression of allogeneic recognition by hemocytes in the ascidian, Halocynthia roretzi; namely they undergo an exocytotic burst upon contact with non-self (allogeneic) hemocytes in vitro. We have found that contact reaction is accompanied by a burst of cyanide-insensitive oxygen consumption that, unlike exocytotic events of mammalian phagocytes, is Ca(2+)-d...