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Journal Molluscan Studies Advance Access originally published online on July 16, 2008
Journal of Molluscan Studies 2008 74(3):259-266; doi:10.1093/mollus/eyn017
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© The Author 2008. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of The Malacological Society of London, all rights reserved

Urate cells and tissues in the south american apple snail Pomacea canaliculata

M. Giraud-Billoud, E. Koch, I. A. Vega, C. Gamarra-Luques and A. Castro-Vazquez

Laboratory of Physiology (IHEM-CONICET), Department of Morphology and Physiology (FCM-UNCuyo), Casilla de correo 33, 5500 Mendoza, Argentina

Correspondence: A. Castro-Vazquez; e-mail: acastrovazquez{at}gmail.com


  Abstract

Intracellular urate concretions are known to occur in some insects, crustaceans and gastropods. Crystalloid-containing urate cells and tissues are widespread in many organs of the apple-snail Pomacea canaliculata. The occurrence of three different urate tissues (perivascular, compact and nodular) correlated well with uric acid concentrations found in the organs containing them. The highest uric acid concentrations were found in the coiled gut (showing both perivascular and compact tissues), the style sac (compact tissue), the testis, the midgut gland and the lung (perivascular tissue) and the aortic ampulla (nodular tissue). Lower concentrations were found in organs with perivascular tissue associated only with their main supplying vessels (anterior kidney and ctenidium), while organs devoid of urate tissues had minimal concentrations (mantle skirt, posterior kidney, albumen gland and heart). Transmission electron microscopy of urate cells revealed a process of sequential differentiation and death, accompanied by the formation and resorption of urate crystalloids. This process occurred asynchronously in cells within the same tissue, suggesting an active turnover of uric acid in the organs containing them.

(Received 11 September 2007; accepted 18 April 2008)


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