« Study of proliferating blood cells in Ciona intestinalis (Tunicata) immune response»

Ascidians are cosmopolitan marine invertebrates considered to be a sister group of vertebrates being classified in the phylum Chordata, subphylum Tunicata [1]. Ciona intestinalis, a reference species of the solitary ascidians, is a valuable model organism for the study of a variety of biological processes. Following an inflammatory stimulus such as the injection of erythrocytes or foreign material into the body wall, C. intestinalis displays acute inflammatory responses consisting in humoral and cellular reactions performed by hemocytes. Hemocytes are essential for recognition of self and non-self, for phagocytosis, encapsulation and lysis of foreign agents, and repair of damaged tissue [2-5]. During inflammatory-like reactions hemocytes migrate by diapedesis from the hemolymphatic lacunae trough the mantle epithelium into the inflamed tissue leading to a subsequent increase of the cell population [6]. In this sense, circulating hemocytes, coming from the hemolymph, pharinx, and hematogenic sites, assume particular