Functional integration of the immune and circulatory system of insects: same but different but still the same

The immune and circulatory systems of insects are functionally integrated, whereby hemocytes associated with the valves of the heart, called periostial hemocytes, survey the hemolymph for pathogens that are circulating throughout the hemocoel. An infection recruits additional hemocytes to the heart, where they destroy microbes and secrete humoral immune factors. This presentation will begin by describing the functional integration of the circulatory and immune systems of mosquitoes, and will then detail the extent in which this process occurs in other insect species. This presentation will conclude by drawing parallels between what occurs in insects and what occurs in their ancestral crustaceans.