Mechanically stimulated bioluminescence

Note To determine the photon yield of their bioluminescence, batches of 10 P. noctiluca cells were stimulated mechanically to exhaustion in a laboratory photometer. The batches of P. noctiluca cells were pumped through the bathyphotometer, and the values given assume that the cells were stimulated to exhaustion in the photometer. The mean for all values, stations, and datas is given with its 95% confidence limit. 

Iselin cruise. On all cruises, cells for calibration were collected in nearsurface waters so that cells would have high levels of bioluminescence (34). The dinoflagellates were collected late in the afternoon by net tows, isolated by pipette into filtered seawater, collected from the same depth, and held in 10-mL pipettes with enlarged tips. After several hours in the dark, and at the time of natural darkness, they were gently introduced a few at a time into the sample chamber intake of the bathyphotometer with the pump running. Batches of the same cells were assayed in the laboratory photometer after being isolated into 3 mL of filtered seawater, held several hours in darkness, and stimulated mechanically to exhaustion. 

Potassium ions can be determined very precisely by the bioluminescence of the squid Symplectoteuthis [63]. The mechanism of this reaction is not yet fully understood. Sodium ions also stimulate this bioluminescence but the initial intensity is less than 50% of that produced by K -ions. The ions and are far less effective (Table 13). 

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