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Seasonal and starvation-induced changes on gonads and lipid reserves of the digestive gland of Nucella lapillus (Caenogastropoda)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 August 2012

Catarina Inês Gonçalves  and
Alexandre Lobo-da-cunha
Catarina Inês Gonçalves
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), 4050-123 Porto, Portugal
Alexandre Lobo-da-cunha*
Affiliation:
Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal; Centre of Marine and Environmental Research (CIIMAR), 4050-123 Porto, Portugal
*
Correspondence should be addressed to: A. Lobo-da-Cunha, Laboratory of Cell Biology, Institute of Biomedical Sciences Abel Salazar (ICBAS), Rua Jorge, Viterbo Ferreira 28, 4050-313 Porto, Portugal email: alcunha@icbas.up.pt
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Abstract

This study was conceived to evaluate seasonal changes in the lipid reserves of the digestive gland of the carnivorous intertidal caenogastropod Nucella lapillus, using a stereological approach. Volume density of lipid droplets in the digestive gland, digestive gland weight and volume were assessed in animals collected in March, June, September and December on the Portuguese coast. Gonad development was evaluated to detect any relationship between lipid content in the digestive gland and the reproductive cycle. The quantitative light microscopic analysis demonstrates that lipid droplets are a major component of the digestive gland. In males, the digestive gland and its lipid reserves were quite stable without significant variations throughout the year. In females, the percentage of digestive gland volume occupied by lipid droplets was higher in June and December, coinciding with the highest values of digestive gland volume. Due to the conjugation of these two factors, in June and December the total amount of lipids in the digestive gland was substantially increased in females. In both males and females a relationship between the development status of the gonad and the lipid reserves of the digestive gland was not evident. However, significant differences in the digestive gland lipid reserves were detected between males and females in June and December, pointing to a sex related effect on lipid reserves. To evaluate the use of lipid reserves as energy source in N. lapillus, the consumption of digestive gland lipids was followed during a starvation experiment.

Keywords

Gastropodastereologyreproductionlipidsdigestive glandmicroscopy
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of the Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom , Volume 93 , Issue 3 , May 2013 , pp. 817 - 824
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 2012

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