title: Circulating hemocytes from larvae of Melipona scutellaris (Hymenoptera, Apidae, Meliponini): cell types and their role in phagocytosis.
abstract: Infection in insects stimulates a complex defensive response. Recognition of pathogens may be accomplished by plasma or hemocyte proteins that bind specifically to bacterial or fungal polysaccharides. Several morphologically distinct hemocyte cell types cooperate in the immune response. Hemocytes attach to invading organisms and then isolate them by phagocytosis, by trapping them in hemocyte aggregates called nodules, or by forming an organized multicellular capsule around large parasites. In the current investigation the cellular in the hemolymph third instar larvae of M. scutellaris has been characterized by means of light microscopy analysis and phagocytosis assays were performed in vivo by injection of 0.5 microm fluorescence beads in order to identify the hemocyte types involved in phagocytosis. Four morphotypes of circulating hemocytes were found in 3rd instar larvae: prohemocytes, plasmatocytes, granulocytes and oenocytoids. The results presented plasmatocytes and granulocytes involved in phagocytic response of foreign particles in 3rd instar larvae of M. scutellaris.
authors.affiliation: Laboratório de Genética, Instituto de Genética e Bioquímica, Universidade Federal de Uberlândia, Campus Umuarama, Sala 2E33, Uberlândia-MG, CEP: 3840-902, Brazil.
authors.forename: Isabel Marques Rodrigues
authors.initials: IM
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: João Felipe
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Moreira Neto
authors.forename: Gustavo Borges
authors.initials: GB
authors.lastname: Pereira
authors.forename: Mariani Borges
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Franco
authors.forename: Marcelo Emílio
authors.initials: ME
authors.lastname: Beletti
authors.forename: Warwick Estevam
authors.initials: WE
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Ana Maria
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Bonetti
authors.forename: Carlos
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Ueira-Vieira
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001516:Bees / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*; D006434:Hemocytes / Q000166:cytology* / Q000276:immunology*; D007814:Larva; D008858:Microscopy, Phase-Contrast; D010587:Phagocytosis / Q000502:physiology*