Hemocytes of two tick species, Ixodes ricinus and Ornithodoros moubata, were investigated with the aim to determine their ultrastructural characteristics and developmental relationships. Only a limited number of ultrastructural features was shown to be unequivocally homological across all hemocyte types. The two species, representing distant groups of ticks, differ in the composition of their circular cell populations. In I. ricinus, three groups of distinct morphological types of hemocytes could be determined according to well-defined ultrastructural features: a typical non-phagocytic granular cell with electron-dense granula and homogeneous cytoplasm (Gr II), and two different types of phagocytic hemocytes, namely plasmatocytes with a low number of granula and phagocytic granolocytes, designated as Gr I. In contrast, an additional cell type resembling insect spherulocytes was determined in O. moubata. This cell type does not seem to be homologous to any I. ricinus hemocyte and may represent a cell type typical of soft ticks only. Possible ontogenetic lineages of the hemocytes of both tick-species were inferred.

Faculty of Biological Sciences University of South Bohemia and Institute of Parasitology Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic Branisovská 31 370 05 Ceské Budĕjovice Czech Republic

Zobrazit více v PubMed

J Med Entomol. 1992 May;29(3):457-66 PubMed

Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat. 1974 Mar 21;147(4):537-49 PubMed

J Parasitol. 1971 Oct;57(5):1110-27 PubMed

J Med Entomol. 1999 Jul;36(4):426-34 PubMed

J Insect Physiol. 1999 Feb;45(2):113-126 PubMed

J Med Entomol. 1970 May 30;7(3):277-88 PubMed

Folia Parasitol (Praha). 1997;44(1):62-70 PubMed

J Med Entomol. 2000 Mar;37(2):265-70 PubMed

Eur J Cell Biol. 1994 Dec;65(2):417-23 PubMed

Parasitology. 1980 Apr;80(2):393-412 PubMed

J Invertebr Pathol. 1996 Jul;68(1):1-14 PubMed

Cell Tissue Res. 1982;221(3):607-15 PubMed

Exp Appl Acarol. 1990 Oct;9(3-4):279-87 PubMed

J Med Entomol. 2001 Jul;38(4):514-9 PubMed

Parasitol Res. 1996;82(6):511-7 PubMed

Acta Virol. 1984 Jan;28(1):48-52 PubMed

Dev Comp Immunol. 1995 Nov-Dec;19(6):451-61 PubMed

J Med Entomol. 2001 Jan;38(1):99-107 PubMed

Tick Immune System: What Is Known, the Interconnections, the Gaps, and the Challenges

Interaction of the tick immune system with transmitted pathogens