A hemocyte is a cell that plays a role in the

immune system The immune system is a network of biological systems that protects an organism from diseases. It detects and responds to a wide variety of pathogens, from viruses to bacteria, as well as Tumor immunology, cancer cells, Parasitic worm, parasitic ...

invertebrates Invertebrates are animals that neither develop nor retain a vertebral column (commonly known as a ''spine'' or ''backbone''), which evolved from the notochord. It is a paraphyletic grouping including all animals excluding the chordate subphylum ...

. It is found within the hemolymph. Hemocytes are

phagocyte Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. Their name comes from the Greek ', "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek ...

s of invertebrates. Hemocytes in ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

'' can be divided into two categories: embryonic and larval. Embryonic hemocytes are derived from head

mesoderm The mesoderm is the middle layer of the three germ layers that develops during gastrulation in the very early development of the embryo of most animals. The outer layer is the ectoderm, and the inner layer is the endoderm.Langman's Medical ...

and enter the hemolymph as circulating cells. Larval hemocytes, on the other hand, are responsible for tissue remodeling during development. Specifically, they are released during the pupa stage in order to prepare the fly for the transition into an adult and the massive associated tissue reorganization that must occur. There are four basic types of hemocytes found in fruit flies: secretory, plasmatocytes, crystal cells, and lamellocytes. Secretory cells are never released into the hemolymph and instead send out signalling molecules responsible for cell differentiation. Plasmatocytes are the hemocytes responsible for cell ingestion (phagocytosis) and represent about 95% of circulating hemocytes. Crystal cells are involved in melanization, a process by which microbes/pathogens are engulfed in a hardened gel and destroyed via anti-microbial peptides and other proteins involved in the humoral response. They constitute about 5% of circulating hemocytes. Lamellocytes are flat cells that are never found in adult cells, and instead are only present in larval cells for their ability to encapsulate invading pathogens. They specifically act on parasitic wasp eggs that bind to the surfaces of cells, and are incapable of being phagocytosed by host cells. In

mosquito Mosquitoes, the Culicidae, are a Family (biology), family of small Diptera, flies consisting of 3,600 species. The word ''mosquito'' (formed by ''Musca (fly), mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish and Portuguese for ''little fly''. Mos ...

es, hemocytes are functionally divided into three populations: granulocytes, oenocytoids and prohemocytes. Granulocytes are the most abundant cell type. They rapidly attach to foreign surfaces and readily engage in

phagocytosis Phagocytosis () is the process by which a cell (biology), cell uses its plasma membrane to engulf a large particle (≥ 0.5 μm), giving rise to an internal compartment called the phagosome. It is one type of endocytosis. A cell that performs ph ...

. Oenocytoids do not readily spread on foreign surfaces and are the major producers of phenoloxidase, which is the major enzyme of the melanization immune pathway. Prohemocytes are small cells of unknown function, which may result from the asymmetric mitosis of granulocytes.

References

External links

* {{zoology-stub Immunology Blood cells