A new role for uric acid: Modulator of haemocyanin oxygen affinity in crustaceans

Abstract

Abstract Uric acid enhances the oxygen affinity of some crustacean haemocyanins and can account for some of the potentiating effects due to unidentified factors in the haemolymph of the freshwater crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes . A similar effect can be elicited by an analogous purine, caffeine, which demonstrates a low specificity of haemocyanin for urate. This suggests that other haemolymph purines might produce a cumulative effect on haemocyanin oxygen affinity.