BIOLOGIYA MORYA, 2016, Vol. 42, No. 2, pp. 134-141

Functional activity of fractions of coelomocytes of the starfish Asterias rubens Linnaeus, 1758

© 2016 I. V. Kudryavtsev^{1, 2}, I. S. D'yachkov², D. A. Mogilenko², A. N. Sukhachev2, A. V. Polevshchikov^{1, 2}

¹Far Eastern Federal University, Vladivostok 690950;
²Institute of Experimental Medicine, St. Petersburg 197376

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As a result of centrifugation of circulating cells of the starfish Asterias rubens in discontinuous density gradient of sodium diatrizoate, three cell fractions were separated. Small coelomocytes with high nuclear-cytoplasmic ratio and devoid of granules prevailed in the upper fraction; coelomocytes with small granules evenly distributed in the cytoplasm dominated in the middle fraction; and large coelomocytes with high content of large granules and vesicles in the perinuclear space were predominant in the bottom fraction. The coelomocytes of the separated fractions were tested for reactive oxygen species production, neutral red uptake, capture and internalization of the labeled bacteria Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus, as well as for lytic activity and expression of the ArC3-like gene, a homologue of the C3 component of the mammal complement cascade. It is shown that all the fractions possessed these functions to a different degree. Cells of the upper fraction showed the most pronounced capability for the expression of C3 gene homologue in response to stimulation with bacterial lipopolysaccharide. Coelomocytes of the middle fraction were highly capable of reactive oxygen species production and phagocytosis, whereas the cells of the lower fraction possessed high hemolytic activity and absorbed neutral red.

Key words: echinoderms, coelomocytes, reactive oxygen species production, phagocytosis, C3 complement component.