Studies on the Biogenesis and Chemistry of the Adhesive Substance Secreted by the Cyprid and Metamorphosed Stages of the Barnacle - 'Balanus'.

摘要

Certain basic information concerning the biology, physiology and endrocrinology of the barnacle is reviewed together with original information on the morphology, histology, histoenzymology, and histochemistry of the cement and the cement apparatus in the cyprid and the adult barnacle. Several new approaches were developed in our laboratory to study the chemical characteristics of the barnacle cement in the solid form (already hardened) and in the liquid state (prior to polymerization). A newly developed method for obtaining barnacle cement in liquid form now makes it possible to describe the nature of the liquid cement, and at the same time open up new avenues to study the chemical nature of the precursors of the cement, and the mechanism involved in its polymerization.