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The Structure and Development of the Vacuolar System in the Fat Body of Insects

  • Chapter
Insect Ultrastructure

Abstract

The fat body is the center of intermediary metabolism and nutrient storage in insects. It consists of sheets or ribbons of cells slung in the hemocoel between the gut and the integument by elastic extensions of the basal lamina and by tracheae. The sheets are in two layers, one close to the integument and the other nearer the gut. Each layer is rarely more than two cells thick and is surrounded by a sac of basal lamina to which the cells attach by hemidesmosomes. The cells are united by desmosomes and gap junctions and are often separated from one another by lymph spaces. The fat body is totally dependent on the bathing hemolymph for its informational signals and for all its raw materials. Conversely, the composition of the hemolymph is to a very large degree a reflection of fat body syntheses and secretions. The loose texture and elasticity of the fat body encourage to the full its interchanges with the hemolymph.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Cell Science Laboratories, Department of Zoology, University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, N6A 5B7, Canada

    Michael Locke

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  1. Michael Locke
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  1. Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois, USA

    Robert C. King

  2. Sericultural Experiment Station, Yatabe, Ibaraki, Japan

    Hiromu Akai

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© 1984 Plenum Press, New York

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Locke, M. (1984). The Structure and Development of the Vacuolar System in the Fat Body of Insects. In: King, R.C., Akai, H. (eds) Insect Ultrastructure. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2715-8_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4613-2715-8_5

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-4612-9685-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-4613-2715-8

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