Is There Signaling During Earthworm Immunity?
Edwin L. Cooper1, Kriztian Kvell2, Peter Engelmann2, and Peter Nemeth2 1UCLA Neurobiology; BOX 951763; 63-230 CHS; Los Angeles, CA 90095-1763 2Department of Immunology and Biotechnology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Pecs, Szigeti u.12, H-7643 Pecs, Hungary Multicellular organisms including invertebrates and vertebrates live in various habitats that may be aquatic or terrestrial where they are constantly exposed to deleterious pathogens. These include viruses, bacteria, fungi, and parasites. They have evolved various immunodefense mechanisms that may protect them from infection by these microorganisms. These include cellular and humoral responses and the level of differentiation of the response parallels the evolutionary development of the species. The first line of innate immunity in earthworms is the body wall that prevents the entrance of microbes into the coelomic cavity that contains fluid in which there are numerous leukocyte effectors of immune responses. When this first ba
