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Natural Occurrence of Glycerol in Insects and Its Relation to Their Ability to Survive Freezing1

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 May 2012

R. W. Salt
R. W. Salt
Affiliation:
Crop Insect Section, Science Service Laboratory Lethbridge, Alberta
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Extract

When Wyatt and Kalf (in press) reported the presence of glycerol in the haemolymph of Hyalophora cecropia (L.) pupae, the possibility that it was responsible for the ability of this stage to survive freezing was naturally raised. It is well known that glycerol may protect animal tissues from injuries otherwise caused by ice formation. Many other substances have a degree of similar protective ability but are less effective for various reasons. Lovelock (1954) tested the protective action of 15 neutral solutes on human red blood cells and found glycerol to be almost ideal because of its high solubility in aqueous salt solutions, its ability to permeate the cell rapidly and completely, its low molecular weight, and its absence of toxicity even when in great excess.

Type
Articles
Information
The Canadian Entomologist , Volume 89 , Issue 11 , November 1957 , pp. 491 - 494
Copyright
Copyright © Entomological Society of Canada 1957

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References

Lemieux, R. U., and Bauer, H. F.. 1954. Spray reagent for the detection of carbohydrates. Anal. Chem. 26: 920–921.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Levitt, J. 1957. Mechanism of freezing in (plant or animal?) living cells and tissues. Science 125: 194.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Lovelock, J. E. 1954. The protective action of neutral solutes against haemolysis by freezing and thawing. Biochem. J. 56: 265–270.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Meryman, H. T. 1956. Mechanics of freezing in living cells and tissues. Science 124: 515–521.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wyatt, G. R., and Kalf, G. F.. (in press) Organic components of insect haemolymph. Proc. 10th Int. Congr. Ent. (Abs.).Google Scholar