Rollin Marc, Xuereb Benoit, Coulaud Romain, Loisel Vincent, Poret Agnès, Duflot Aurélie, Le Foll Frank, Picard Céline, Hucher Nicolas
Le Havre Normandie University (ULHN), FR CNRS 3730 SCALE, UMR-INERIS 02 Environmental Stresses and Biomonitoring of Aquatic Ecosystems (SEBIO), 25 rue Philippe Le Bon - 76600, Le Havre, France.
UNIHAVRE, FR 3038 CNRS, URCOM, Normandie Univ., Le Havre 76600, France.
Comp Biochem Physiol A Mol Integr Physiol. 2025 Apr;302:111801. doi: 10.1016/j.cbpa.2024.111801. Epub 2025 Jan 3.
The crustacean cuticle is a composite material acting as a shell, but also linked with other physiological functions as respiration, locomotion or reproduction. The present study aimed to characterize for the first time the cuticle properties of the marine prawn Palaemon serratus using thermal (TGA) and chemical (FTIR, ICP-AES) techniques. The use of native lyophilized cutiles also enabled to estimate the complexity of the cuticle structure of P. serratus. Hence, the prawn cuticle was found to be composed of bound water at 14 %, Light macromolecules at 27 %, heavy macromolecules at 17 % and inorganic elements at 42 %. This composition appeared to be similar to that of other swimming crustaceans, suggesting an adaptation of the cuticle structure in line with the ecology of the species. Then, thermal and chemical techniques were applied to characterize the structure changes of the cuticle induced by i) the moult cycle and ii) formic acid treatment. The moult cycle influence assessment revealed that the physicochemical properties were mainly modulated during postmoult, reflecting both the cuticle mineralization and tanning. Then, formic acid treatment led to cuticle alterations, related to the dissolution of amorphous minerals, which were detected by TGA, FTIR and ICP-AES. With these results, the assessment of cuticle properties using a combination of thermal and chemical techniques appeared to be interesting to monitor changes in cuticle structure in a dynamical context.
甲壳动物的角质层是一种复合材料，它起到外壳的作用，但也与呼吸、运动或繁殖等其他生理功能相关联。本研究旨在首次使用热分析（TGA）和化学分析（FTIR、ICP - AES）技术来表征海虾锯齿长臂虾角质层的特性。使用天然冻干角质层还能够评估锯齿长臂虾角质层结构的复杂性。因此，发现虾角质层由14%的结合水、27%的轻质大分子、17%的重质大分子和42%的无机元素组成。这种组成似乎与其他游泳甲壳动物相似，表明角质层结构与该物种的生态习性相适应。然后，应用热分析和化学分析技术来表征由i）蜕皮周期和ii）甲酸处理引起的角质层结构变化。蜕皮周期影响评估表明，理化性质主要在蜕皮后受到调节，这反映了角质层的矿化和鞣制过程。然后，甲酸处理导致角质层发生改变，这与无定形矿物质的溶解有关，通过TGA、FTIR和ICP - AES检测到了这种变化。基于这些结果，结合热分析和化学分析技术来评估角质层特性，对于在动态环境中监测角质层结构的变化似乎是有意义的。
