Carotenoid pigments in the optic cushion of Marthasterias glacialis (L.)

Abstract

The optic cushion of Marthasterias glacialis is seen to contain yellowish orange and reddish orange pigments. The former occurs throughout the cushion, the latter is confined to the wall of the optic cups and a few scattered, irregular patches. Both pigments occur in the cytoplasm of long and narrow or irregular cells, some in the form of granules or vacuoles.Optic cushions yield an orange extract in methanol which decomposes in light.The behaviour of methanolic extracts after partitioning, saponification, chromatographic separation and spectrophotometric examination indicates the presence of β-carotene and esterified astaxanthin.The significance of the results in relation to previous findings and their possible bearing on photoreception is discussed.