THE PHYSIOLOGY OF CARBON DIOXIDE TRANSPORT IN INSECT BLOOD PART II. THE EFFECT OF INSECT BLOOD ON THE RATE OF HYDRATION OF CO2

• Main Authors: L. Levenbook, A. M. Clark
• Other Authors: The Pennsylvania State University CiteSeerX Archives
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: 1949
• Subjects: Carbonic acid
• Online Access: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/summary?doi=10.1.1.546.5334; http://jeb.biologists.org/content/27/2/175.full.pdf

In a previous paper (Levenbook, 1950) it has been demonstrated that carbon dioxide transport in the blood of the larva of Gastrophilus intestinalis de Geer (Diptera) occurs largely in the form of bicarbonate. It is highly probable that this also applies to most other insects. The quantity of bicarbonate present is a function of both the available base and the carbonic acid concentration, the latter in turn being directly proportional to the amount of gaseous COa existing in the blood. Wigglesworth (1939) has pointed out that except where the tracheolar endings are intracellular, the final gas transport between the tracheoles and the respiring tissues is through the insect's blood. Accordingly it is of interest to determine whether or not insect blood possesses any special properties peculiar to this function of trans-porting carbon dioxide between the cells and the tracheoles. Kreps & Chenykaeva (1942, 1942a) studied the effect of Orthopteran blood on the rate of the reaction H2O + CO2^H2CO3. The blood did not show any carbonic anhydrase activity, but they claimed that a substance was present which inhibited the physical hydration of COa to form carbonic acid without having any effect on the