Morphological Analysis of the Hemolymph Cell Composition in the Bivalve Mollusk <i>Anadara</i> <i>broughtonii</i> Schrenck, 1867 (Sea of Japan)

Abstract

The hemolymph cells of the ark clam Anadara broughtonii were examined using light microscopy, flow cytometry and gradient centrifugation. All three methods of analysis made it possible to identify two main types of cells in the hemolymph of the ark clam Anadara broughtonii – large granular erythrocytes and small agra-nular amebocytes. Erythrocytes accounted for 95.6 ± 0.9% of the total number of hemolymph cells. Erythrocytes were hemoglobin-containing cells with a great number of granules in the cytoplasm, a low nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio (NCR) and a lower intensity of cellular respiration compared to amebocytes. Amebocytes are cells of predominantly irregular shape with a high number of cells that do not contain or contain no more than 10 granular inclusions in the cytoplasm. All types of hemocytes found in the ark clam hemolymph demonstrated the same ability to spontaneously produce reactive oxygen species. For the first time, it has been shown that red blood cells of the ark clam Anadara broughtonii are capable of phagocytosis. At the same time, amebocytes absorbed on the average two times more zymosan particles (10.3 ± 0.7 pcs.), compared to erythrocytes (5.3 ± 0.1 pcs.).