Characterization of Black-scar oyster (Crassostrea iredalie) hemocytes

Abstract

The main objective of this study was to characterize hemocytes found in circulation of the Black-scar oyster, Crassostrea iredalie. Hemolymp was collected from heart chamber and used for hemocyte characterization under a light microscopy. Histological technique was also used to investigate hemocyte characteristics in oyster tissues. In recent study, hemocytes were classified into 4 types based on the present of granule in cytoplasm and the amount of cytoplasm in hemocytes including AG1, AG2, G1 and G2. AG1 is a type of hemocyte that contains none or few amount of granules and has few amount of cytoplasm. AG2 is a type of hemocyte that contains none or few amount of granules and has large amount of cytoplasm. G1 is a type of hemocyte that contains large amount of granules and has few amount of cytoplasm. Whereas, G2 is a type of hemocyte that contains large amount of granules and has large amount of cytoplasm. Moreover, histological results revealed that all types of hemocytes were found in all tissue especially in blood vessel and sinus. Data obtained from the current study will be used as a basic data for the study of host defense mechanism in this species and will further use in marine toxicological research in the future.