The Fate of Foreign Materials Experimentally Introduced into the Snail Australorbis glabratus

Abstract

The reaction of A. glabratus to injected yeast, bacteria, erythrocytes, carmine, pollen and polystyrene spheres was followed histologically. Small particles were phagocytized by leukocytes and subsequently were carried to the exterior or digested. Large particles (pollen and polystyrene) were encapsulated by fibroblasts. Implanted fragments of fresh homologous tissue elicited no response; fixed homologous tissue was encapsulated, and fresh heterologous tissue (from Planobarius corneus) was destroyed in A. glabratus.