I'm by no means an expert with tunicates, but I guess the problem is what you
call 'dead'.
I am familiar with salps and they have a nice circulatory system in which you
can follow particulates as they move about. So, if they stop moving, the heart
has stopped, but is that dead enough? :)
Do you need to know about cellular death? And where?
Would trypan blue reveal dead cells? or would it nonspecifically stain tunic
etc? Or do you think apoptosis is induced, in which case you could maybe do a
TUNEL or nuclear fragmentation or similar type of assay. Or is it necrosis
with cell rupturing, etc? might be hard to do in situ in a tunicate depending
on the animal, coloration, etc.
Mike Scruton wrote:
> Hi,
> I am a masters student doing some work on the invase Styela clava (clubbed
> tunicate). My work is dealing with the pathophysiology of death in this
> species, in particular, the effects of acetic acid on the tunic. If anyone
> is aware of any articles related to the tunic of Styela, or related
> treatments trials, your insight would be greatly appeciated. Also, I am
> having a hard time determining when the tunicates are actually dead. I
> have tried using ECG to determine this, however this was unsuccessful. I
> worry that the tunicates are dead immediately after treatment, although I
> can't tell for sure until they rot a week or so later. If anyone is aware
> of any method to determine death in tunicates, that would also be extremely
> helpful for my project. Thanks a lot.
>
> Mike
--
Anthony Moss
Associate Professor
Biological Sciences
Auburn University
131 Cary Hall
Auburn, AL 36849
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tel: (334)844-9257
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