Effects of Lugol's iodine solution and formalin on cell volume of three bloom-forming dinoflagellates -- Journal of Oceanology and Limnology,2017,35(4):858-866

	Cite this paper:
	YANG Yang, SUN Xiaoxia, ZHAO Yongfang. Effects of Lugol's iodine solution and formalin on cell volume of three bloom-forming dinoflagellates[J]. Journal of Oceanology and Limnology, 2017, 35(4): 858-866

Effects of Lugol's iodine solution and formalin on cell volume of three bloom-forming dinoflagellates

YANG Yang^1,2, SUN Xiaoxia^1,3, ZHAO Yongfang¹

1 Jiaozhou Bay Marine Ecosystem Research Station, Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Qingdao 266071, China;
2 University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100049, China;
3 Laboratory for Marine Ecology and Environmental Science, Qingdao National Laboratory for Marine Science and Technology, Qingdao 266071, China

Abstract:

Fixatives are traditionally used in marine ecosystem research. The bias introduced by fixatives on the dimensions of plankton cells may lead to an overestimation or underestimation of the carbon biomass. To determine the impact of traditional fixatives on dinoflagellates during short-and long-term fixation, we analyzed the degree of change in three bloom-forming dinoflagellates (Prorocentrum micans, Scrippsiella trochoidea and Noctiluca scintillans) brought about by Lugol's iodine solution (hereafter Lugol's) and formalin. The fixation effects were species-specific. P. micans cell volume showed no significant change following long-term preservation, and S. trochoidea swelled by approximately 8.06% in Lugol's and by 20.97% in formalin as a percentage of the live cell volume, respectively. N. scintillans shrank significantly in both fixatives. The volume change due to formalin in N. scintillans was not concentration-dependent, whereas the volume shrinkage of N. scintillans cells fixed with Lugol's at a concentration of 2% was nearly six-fold that in cells fixed with Lugol's at a concentration of 0.6%-0.8%. To better estimate the volume of N. scintillans fixed in formalin at a concentration of 5%, we suggest that the conversion relationship was as follows:volume of live cell=volume of intact fixed cell/0.61. Apart from size change, damage induced by fixatives on N. scintillans was obvious. Lugol's is not a suitable fixative for N. scintillans due to high frequency of broken cells. Accurate carbon biomass estimate of N. scintillans should be performed on live samples. These findings help to improve the estimate of phytoplankton cell volume and carbon biomass in marine ecosystem.

Key words: cell volume|formalin|Lugol's|Noctiluca scintillans

Received: 2015-12-30 Revised: 2016-03-03

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