The occurrence, storage, and distribution of glycogen in Hydra viridis and Hydra fusca

✍ Scribed by Yoder, M. C.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1926
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 447 KB
• Volume: 44
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1400440117

✦ Synopsis

This work is a sequel of a previous piece of work by me on the digestive enzymes of the coelenterates, H. viridis and H. fusca. It was done with the purpose of throwing more light on the nutritional processes of the lower coelenterates. It was sought to determine whether or not the hydra utilized carbohydrates of any kind in its metabolic processes. This work, as we shall see, furnishes ample proof that carbohydrates occur in hydra and are used under certain conditions.

The tissues of H. viridis and of H. fusca were tested for the presence of glycogen, or animal starch. The method of procedure was to fix the hydra in a fluid that would not dissolve the glycogen, embed in paraffin, section, and stain with iodine while spreading the sections on slides. A process described by Gage ('06) was used. This process is briefly as follows: The hydras were fixed for one hour in a fluid made up from the following formula: 95 per cent alcohol, 100 cc.; 10 per cent iodine in 95 per cent alcohol, 2.5 cc.; glacial acetic acid, 1 cc. They were then carried through absolute alcohol, xylene, and into paraffin. The sections were spread on slides using the following iodine solution for spreading instead of water: Water 250 cc.; 95 per cent 11 wish to extend my thanks to Dr. W. A. Kepner, of the Miller School of Biology, for his kindly help, suggestions, and criticism while pursuing this work and preparing the mauscript for publication.