title: Cytometric investigations on hemocytes of the American oyster, Crassostrea virginica.
abstract: Pericardial hemolymph was obtained from American Oysters (Crassostrea virginica) and the hemocytes characterized by flow cytometry. The cells were found to have a broad unimodal size distribution with a median diameter of 7 micrometers. Total protein measured by flow cytometric fluorescence of dansylated cells also revealed a broad unimodal distribution similar to that obtained for size. The proportion of hemocytes in each stage of the cell cycle was measured using DNA-specific DAPI fluorescence. Histograms showed a single peak representing the G(0)/G(1) population. There was no evidence of S or G(2)+M phases of the cell cycle, nor was polyploidy seen. The forward and orthogonal light scatter of fixed hemocytes showed no evidence of sub-populations on the basis of cytoplasmic granularity. Thus, in terms of these parameters, oyster hemocytes appear to represent a single population exhibiting graded cellular differences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33620 USA.
authors.forename: F E
authors.initials: FE
authors.lastname: Friedl
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Alvarez
authors.forename: J S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Johnson
authors.forename: H G
authors.initials: HG
authors.lastname: Gratzner