Meeting Abstract
American lobsters mount an immune response to bacterial infection by releasing hemocytes (which engulf bacterial cells) into their hemolymph. In the open circulatory system of lobsters, hemolymph issues from the arterial network and bathes tissue cells directly before being collected into the venous system, which terminates in the infrabranchial sinus located just upstream from the gill circulation. Previous research suggests that hemocytes that have engulfed bacteria embolize in different tissues. The gills have been suggested to be particularly important in lobsters’ immune response to infection, but other tissues and organs appear to be involved as well. In our research, we acutely-challenged lobsters with Vibrio campbellii bioengineered to: 1) be resistant to the antibiotics kanamycin and chloramphenicol, and 2) express green fluorescent protein. We characterized the role of tissues and organs in the immune response by two means: 1) tissue/organ culture and 2) confocal microscopy. While we focused our attention on several different tissues/organs, we were particularly interested in characterizing hemocyte sequestration by the gills. Our results suggest that the gills are important in lobsters’ immune response to acute bacterial infection, but that other tissues and organs play a significant role as well.
