DDT and the hemocyte picture of the mealworm,Tenebrio molitor L

✍ Scribed by Jones, Jack Colvard

• Publisher: Wiley (John Wiley & Sons)
• Year: 1957
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 308 KB
• Volume: 50
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0095-9898
• DOI: 10.1002/jcp.1030500307

✦ Synopsis

I n a previous study it was shown that DDT did not lyse hemocytes (or blood cells) of the mealworm im vitro (Jones and Tauber, '54), although Toumanoff and Lapied ('50) reported this to be the case in DDT-treated Galleria. I n addition, it was shown that DDT did not interfere with in vitro hemolymph coagulation in the mealworm (Jones and Tauber, '54), although Grdgoire ( ' 5 3 ) found inhibition of coagulation in hemolymph from some insects after adding 10% DDT suspensions to it. Finally, it was concluded that abnormal hemocytes in DDT-poisoned mealworms did not result from a direct toxic action of the poisons on these cells but were a wholly secondary phenomenon.

Toumanoff and Lapied ('50) reported that marked changes occurred in differential hemocyte counts of DDT-poisoned Galleria. Specifically, they stated that contact with, or injec-. tion of, DDT brought about a "destruction of true leucacytes or micronucleocytes" and that there was an increase in "leucocytes with azurophile granules" (= plasmatocytes in present study). They interpreted this increase as a defense reaction.

The present study was designed to see if a comparable phenomenon would take place in the hemocyte picture of mealworms poisoned with DDT.