Effects of Added Substrates and Inhibitors on Homogenate Respiration during the Metamorphosis of the Mealworm, Tenebrio Molitor Linnaeus1

Abstract

A Since the work of Potter and Elvehjem (1936), tissue homogenates have been used extensively for the study of the enzymatic activity of vertebrate tissues. The homogenate technique was applied to a study of insects by Bodine and Lu (1950). They homogenized embryos of the grasshopper, Melanoplus differentialis (Thos.), and compared the rate of O2 consumption of whole embryos with that of their homogenates during diapause and non-diapause. Bodine, Lu, and West (1952) extended these experiments to include the effects of adding substrates and inhibitors to homogenates of grasshopper embryos. These experiments showed marked differences in the enzymatic activity of diapause and nondiapause stages.