FUNCTIONAL ACTIVITY OF HEMOCYTES OF PULMONARY MOLLUSCS

Hemocytes, the cell of the hemolymph, play a key role in the immune response of pulmonate molluscs to various pathogens including trematode infection. The number of hemocytes is known to increase after immunization but the mechanism of their multiplication remains debatable. In this work we studied the functional and proliferative activity of hemocytes in two species of pulmonate molluscs: Biomphalaria glabrata, Planorbarius corneus. ImageStream technique was used for the study of the hemocyte populations of these molluscan species for the first time. The hemocytes of all the studied species were represented by two main types, granular cells and hyalinocytes. Microscopic and flow-cytometric study of the hemocytes with the use of EdU revealed some EdU-positive cells. However, the analysis of the cell cycle of the hemocytes showed that the amount of DNA in these cells was not increased.