Cellular distribution of sea urchin antibacterial activity

Summary— Paracentrotus lividus circulating coelomocytes could be separated by a discontinuous sodium‐metrizoate gradient. Amoebocytes and red spherule cells were separated in an almost pure population, whereas colourless spherule cells were distributed at different density levels suggesting that sev...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Biology of the cell 1990, Vol.70 (3), p.153-157
Main Authors: Gerardi, Patrizia, Lassegues, Maguy, Canicatti, Calogero
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
antibacterial activity
coelomocytes
echinoderms
lysozyme
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Summary:Summary— Paracentrotus lividus circulating coelomocytes could be separated by a discontinuous sodium‐metrizoate gradient. Amoebocytes and red spherule cells were separated in an almost pure population, whereas colourless spherule cells were distributed at different density levels suggesting that several morphological or functional types constitute this cellular category. Vibratile cells co‐occur with amoebocytes, colourless and red spherule cells in a single heterogeneous fraction. Studies with the separated bands indicate that antibacterial activity against gram negative marine bacteria is present in each cellular fraction. However, the highest degree of bacterial growth inhibition was produced by amoebocytes from band A and red spherule cells from band F. Amoebocytes most probably exerted their antibacterial function by lysozyme‐like molecules, while red spherule cells do not possess this enzyme.
ISSN:0248-4900
1768-322X
DOI:10.1016/0248-4900(90)90372-A