Effects of osmotic shock on the ultrastructure of cell nuclei in euryhaline and stenohaline crustaceans.
Changes in cell ultrastructure in relation to volume regulation following application of osmotic challenges have been but poorly documented up to now. In a previous study, we demonstrated that large and immediate changes in the organization of nuclear chromatin occur in mammalian cells under such conditions. Similar chromatin modifications are shown in the present study in the cells of the stenohaline crab Maia verrucosa. They are not seen in the cells of the euryhaline species tested, hyperosmoregulating (Eriocheir sinensis) or osmoconforming (Cancer pagurus). Nor are they seen in cells of Portunus puber, another stenohaline species. These results are discussed in the context of the disrupting effects that inorganic ions have on macromolecular structures and of the protection which may be conferred by organic osmolytes used by various crustacean species.
Gilles
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Laboratory of Animal Physiology, University of Liège, B-4020 Liège, Belgium.
Goffinet
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