Evaluation of an innate immune reaction to parasites in earthworms

Field, Stuart G.; Kurtz, Joachim; Cooper, Edwin L.; Michiels, Nico K.

doi:10.1016/j.jip.2004.04.001

Item

ITEM ACTIONSEXPORT

Add to Basket

Local TagsRelease HistoryDetailsSummary

Released

Journal Article

Evaluation of an innate immune reaction to parasites in earthworms

MPS-Authors

/persons/resource/persons56788

Kurtz, Joachim
Department Evolutionary Ecology, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Max Planck Society;

External Resource

No external resources are shared

Fulltext (restricted access)

There are currently no full texts shared for your IP range.

Fulltext (public)

There are no public fulltexts stored in PuRe

Supplementary Material (public)

There is no public supplementary material available

Citation

Field, S. G., Kurtz, J., Cooper, E. L., & Michiels, N. K. (2004). Evaluation of an innate immune reaction to parasites in earthworms. Journal of Invertebrate Pathology, 86(1-2), 45-49. doi:10.1016/j.jip.2004.04.001.

Cite as: https://hdl.handle.net/11858/00-001M-0000-000F-DAF9-2

Abstract

Encapsulation is an essential process of the invertebrate immune system and includes the prophenoloxidase (proPO) cascade. We present an assay for evaluating this immune response, now newly adapted to earthworms. Coelomic fluid is withdrawn and coelomocytes are stained with L-Dopa. We studied assay repeatability and the correlation between number of PO-active cells and infection level of the parasitic protozoan Monocystis sp. in the earthworm Lumbricus terrestris. Our study showed high assay repeatability although the expected negative relationship between PO-active coelomocytes and parasite load was not observed; yet a suggestion toward a positive relationship was detected. This finding is contrary to previous assumptions that presume coelomocyte concentrations to be the independent variable determining parasite load.