Abstract
Bombus presents a serious global decline of populations and even loss of species. This phenomenon is complex and multifactorial: environmental degradation due to increasing cultivation and grazing areas, indiscriminate use of agrochemicals, and a plethora of xenobiotics daily discharged in the environment. We proposed that bees have an integrated cell system, which ensures protection against chemical stressors up to a certain limit. Therefore, this hypothesis was tested, exposing workers of Bombus morio to cadmium, a harmful trace metal nowadays widespread in our society. The workers were kept in BOD (26°C, RH 70%, in the dark), fed ad libitum, and divided into a control group (n = 20) and an experimental group (n = 20). For the first group, we offered 2 mL of distilled water; for the experimental groups, 2mL of cadmium at 1 ppb. In relation to the control group, exposed bees showed that their fat body and hemocytes responded in synchronization with pericardial cells in a topographical and temporal cascade of events, where the fat body is the first barrier against xenobiotics, followed by pericardial cells. The immune cells participate throughout the process. To this system, we proposed the name of hepato-nephrocitic system (HNS), which may explain many phenomena that remain unclear in similar research with Apis mellifera and other species of bees, as shown in this paper. The bee’s HNS is a system of highly responsive cells to toxicants, considered a novel parameter for the study of the ecology of stress applied in environmental management.
Highlights
The fat body of insects consists of two main types of cells: trophocyte and oenocyte
In regions where there are openings in the dorsal vessel, i.e., ostioles, and in the myogenic region of the dorsal vessel, or heart, the perivisceral fat body composes an organized system with the pericardial cells and hemocytes, i.e., the cells of the immune system
We proposed the name of hepato-nephrocitic system or HNS (Figs 1 and 2)
Summary
The fat body of insects consists of two main types of cells: trophocyte and oenocyte These cells are apparently associated in a mass of tissue, the former has mesodermal origin, and the latter, ectodermal, presenting different morphology and function [1,2,3]. There is a specific region where the fat body is associated with two or more different cellular types, playing the role of only one system Such association occurs along the insect heart in the dorsal vessel, and in bees it may play functions homologous with the hepatocytes and nephrocytes of vertebrates [8]. The trace metal is detected in the air, soil and water, and in organic and inorganic crops, as well as in fruits, vegetables, and cereals in organic crops [20] For such purpose, we analyzed specific internal organs of the bumble bee Bombus morio. These bees are important bioindicators of the environmental condition, the relevance of studying their internal organs as sensitive biomarkers of environmental stress
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