engleski

Toxic effects of iron on green and brown hydra

Iron (Fe) is an essential metal for almost all living organisms as it is involved in a wide variety of important metabolic processes. Hydra is considered a classical model organism for understanding the fundamental developmental processes. Symbiotic green hydra survived better in the given micro-environmental conditions and non-symbiotic brown hydra exhibited greater susceptibility to iron. In addition to morphological changes, histological changes were also observed. Accumulation of iron in the cellular layers of hydra was seen as blue stained depositions. Although iron depositions were not detected in mesoglea, morphometric measurement of mesoglea verified various thickness values, presumably due to its largely non-cellular structure.The present study may point towards the advantages of symbiosis in the living world.

iron depositions ; morphometry ; symbosis

Članak (journal article), Scientific Correspondence