ABSTRACT: Hepatopancreatic brush border lysis (HBL) is a new bacterial disease of Palaemon elegans found in 1 shrimp from a rock pool of the northern Adriatic Sea. The HBL bacteria are Gram-negative, elongate and slightly curved, and measure up to 7 [lozenge] 0.2 µm. They were observed only extracellularly in the lumina of hepatopancreatic tubules. The grade of infection varied considerably among the tubules. A typical cytopathological feature of HBL infection is the unusual end-to-end contact of bacteria with individual microvilli which eventually induces rupture of the microvillous border. The bacteria in the lumen may live on the discharged contents of such lysed cells. Only R-cells and F-cells are contacted and lysed and not B-cells.

KEY WORDS: Palaemon elegans · Decapoda · Crustacea · Hepatopancreas · Bacterium · Disease

Published in DAO Vol. 29, No. 2 (1997) on May 22
ISSN: 0177-5103. Copyright © Inter-Research, Oldendorf/Luhe, 1997