Abstract
The effects of a magnetic field (1, 3 and 5 mT), applied during short- (1, 3, 5, 30 and 60 minutes) and long-term (from the beginning of embryogenesis) exposure, on melanophores of the European whitefish, Coregonus lavaretus and vendace, Coregonus albula, were investigated. Short-term magnetic field exposure effects on the behaviour of melanophores at the stage when the eye and body pigment on whitefish and vendace were distinctly visible in the embryos. The short-term embryo exposure to the magnetic fields induced the pigment of the body cells to move to the central parts of the cells. In the control, we did not observe displacement of the pigment within the melanophores. The long-term exposure to the magnetic field was found to delay the pigment appearance in the eyeballs and on the body of embryos of both investigated species. The number of melanophores in the body of embryos exposed to the magnetic fields was lower than that in the control. The pigment showed an increasing tendency to concentrate in individual embryonic and larval cells with increasing magnetic field strength. Melanophore index in embryos and larvae of whitefish and vendace was found to differ significantly between the control and all the magnetic field treatments.Our results can be extrapolated to other organisms and will allow us to broaden the knowledge on pigment cell magnetoreception in vertebrates.
Highlights
Fish body colour and changes in skin pigmentation are due to the presence of chromatophores, known as pigment cells (Burton 2002)
The eggs were incubated in the Earth’s magnetic background until the Observations of the early developmental stages of the two fish species studied showed that melanophores responded to the static magnetic fields applied
The appearance of pigmentation on the embryo bodies and in the eyes was delayed in the generated magnetic fields, the delay increasing with increasing field strength
Summary
Fish body colour and changes in skin pigmentation are due to the presence of chromatophores, known as pigment cells (Burton 2002). Based on structural differences and pigments in the cells, chromatophores have been divided into four groups: allophores (cells with greenish pigments), guanophores (whitish), melanophores (brown to black), and lipophores, further subdivided into xanthophores (yellowish) and erythrophores (red) (Kelsh 2004). Most attention has been paid to melanophores. These usually star-shaped cells engage in numerous cytoplasmic processes. A melanophore contains membrane-bound organelles called melanosomes, i.e. oval bodies with the pigment melanin (Rogers et al 1997; Van Den Bossche et al 2006). The major function of melanosomes is to protect the DNA in the spinous-layer cells from harmful ultraviolet (UV) radiation (Lanzing 1984)
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