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Storage and depletion of lipid components in the pyloric caeca and ovaries of the seastarAsterias rubens during its annual reproductive cycle

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Abstract

Detailed information is presented on the changes in lipid-class profiles (polar lipids, total neutral lipids, free sterols, steryl esters, triacylglycerols, neutral ether lipids and free fatty acids), which are manifest during the annual reproductive cycle of the seastarAsterias rubens for both the storage organs (pyloric caeca) and utilizing organs (ovaries). The ovaries appear to accumulate all individual lipid components proportional to progression of vitellogenesis. Pyloric caeca, in contrast, show variable lipid-class levels, probably due to more complex processes in these organs, operating simultaneously: digestion of food, accumulation of storage lipids, mobilization of stored lipids and their release. The results are discussed in terms of current knowledge on the role of lipids in echinoderm reproduction.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory of Chemical Animal Physiology, University of Utrecht, Padualaan 8, 3508 TB, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    R. C. H. M. Oudejans & I. van der Sluis

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  1. R. C. H. M. Oudejans
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  2. I. van der Sluis
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Communicated by O. Kinne, Hamburg

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Oudejans, R.C.H.M., van der Sluis, I. Storage and depletion of lipid components in the pyloric caeca and ovaries of the seastarAsterias rubens during its annual reproductive cycle. Mar. Biol. 53, 239–247 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00952432

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