Biomolecules of the Horseshoe Crab’s Hemolymph: Components of an Ancient Defensive Mechanism and Its Impact on the Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Industry

Table 2

Under the transmission and scanning electron microscopy (TEM and SEM) features of hemolymph of different species of horseshoe crabs.

Species	Features of hemolymph
Limulus polyphemus	(1) Blood contains only the large granulocyte [29].; (2) Blood cell count of L. polyphemus (20,000-60,000 cell mm^-3 as reported by Wu et al. [34].
Tachypleus tridentatus	(1) Hemocytes come in two different types: granular and nongranular (Figure 3). Three clotting factors and one antimicrobial component are present in the large granules, while the other antimicrobial compounds are only available in the small granules [11].
Tachypleus gigas	(1) Under light microscope, blood cells of T. gigas were ovoid with light pink cytoplasm packed with red granules. TEM of normal granular cells of T. gigas revealed that the cytoplasm consisted of large (1 μm) and small (0.5 μm) granules [35].; (2) The average blood cells count of T. gigas was 33,000 cell mm^-3 (29,000 for females and 37,000 for males) as reported by Wu et al. [34].