Microscopic anatomy of the thin-walled vessels leaving the heart of the lobster Homarus americanus:  anterior lateral arteries

Cavey, Michael J.; Chan, Kincaid S.; Wilkens, Jerrel L.

Microscopic anatomy of the thin-walled vessels leaving the heart of the lobster Homarus americanus: anterior lateral arteries

dc.contributor.author	Cavey, Michael J.	en
dc.contributor.author	Chan, Kincaid S.	en
dc.contributor.author	Wilkens, Jerrel L.	en
dc.contributor.department	Biological Sciences	en
dc.contributor.faculty	Faculty of Science	en
dc.contributor.institution	University of Calgary	en
dc.date.accessioned	2006-08-14T16:38:41Z
dc.date.available	2006-08-14T16:38:41Z
dc.date.issued	2006
dc.description.abstract	The anterior lateral arteries are paired vessels leaving the anterior end of the lobster (Homarus americanus) heart and proceeding to the antennae and eyestalks, the stomach and hepatopancreas, the gonads, and the thoracic and branchial muscles. These vessels have a trilaminar organization, consisting of a tunica interna with elastic fibrils, a tunica intermedia represented by a bilayered cell mass, and a tunica externa with collagen fibrils. In the tunica intermedia, cells flanking the tunica interna (light cells) show less affinity for basic dyes and electron stains than those flanking the tunica externa (dark cells). Each light cell exhibits an irregularly shaped stress fiber (a bundle of closely packed microfilaments) in the region adjoining the tunica interna. Collectively, these bundles have a circumferential or slightly oblique orientation relative to the lumen of the vessel. The role of the stress fibers is unresolved. If they are static structures, they might contribute to the non-linear elasticity shown by lobster arteries. If they generate force, and small bundles of microfilaments do diverge from the stress fibers to enter filamentous mats applied to the plasmalemmata, a coordinated contraction of the cells might reduce the luminal diameter and, thus, retard the flow of hemolymph. Coordination of contraction would have to occur in the absence of nerves and without the benefit of communicating (gap) junctions between the light and dark cells.	en
dc.description.refereed	yes	en
dc.description.sponsorship	American Microscopical Society, American Society of Zoologists. Division of Invertebrate Zoology.	en
dc.format.extent	3162419 bytes
dc.format.mimetype	application/pdf
dc.identifier.citation	Chan, K. S., Cavey, M. J., Wilkens, J. L. 2006 "Microscopic anatomy of the thin-walled vessels leaving the heart of the lobster Homarus americanus: anterior lateral arteries" Invertebrate Biology 125: 76–88	en
dc.identifier.doi	http://dx.doi.org/10.11575/PRISM/35106
dc.identifier.issn	1077-8306
dc.identifier.uri	http://hdl.handle.net/1880/43409
dc.language.iso	en	en
dc.publisher	Blackwell Publishing, Inc.	en
dc.publisher.url	http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1439-0485.2005.00051.x
dc.subject	Biology	en
dc.subject.other	F-actin immunohistochemistry	en
dc.subject.other	hemolymph vessel	en
dc.subject.other	microfilaments	en
dc.title	Microscopic anatomy of the thin-walled vessels leaving the heart of the lobster Homarus americanus: anterior lateral arteries	en
dc.type	journal article