Serological and histological investigations on medicinal leech species Hirudo verbana and Hirudo sulukii (Hirudinida: Hirudinidae)
Project no. 21354 · Status: Kapanmış · 2020
Summary
The aim of this study was to analyze the amino acid, total protein and total carbohydrate in the mucus, to determine the hemocyte types, the fractions of hemolymph proteins, and to investigate the histological structures of the anterior-posterior suckers as contracted and relaxed of Hirudo verbana and Hirudo sulukii species. For this purpose, six samples of both species were used. As a result of mucus analyses, tryptophan was not detected in H. verbana, while arginine was not detected in H. sulukii. While tryptophan was not found in H. verbana, it was detected in H. sulukii even at a low level, but there was no statistically significant difference between the two species. Glutamine and arginine are higher in H. verbana. While there was no significant difference between the two species in terms of total carbohydrate in mucus, total protein value was higher in H. verbana. When the preparations prepared with Wright’s stain were examined, 4 types of hemocytes (prohemocyte, plastocyte, granulocyte and eleocyte) were detected in two species. Areas of hemocyte types did not differ between two species. Using polyacrilamid disc gel electrophoresis, while hemolymph proteins of H. verbana were separated into 11 fractions or fraction groups, H. sulukii were separated into 10 fractions or fraction groups. There were also important quantitative differences between electropherograms. In the anterior and posterior suckers, where the contracted areas occupy less area than relaxed ones, the epidermis surrounds dermis with intense longitudinal and circular muscles.