FIGURE 5.

Copper feeding experiments. (A) Dissected midgut from control larvae reared on standard diet without CuCl₂ for 24 h. (B–E): dissected midgut from larvae reared on standard diet added with CuCl₂ for 6, 14, 24 and 48 h, respectively. (F) pH measurement of midgut juice samples from anterior, middle, and posterior regions of the midgut isolated from larvae fed for 24 h on control (white bar chart) and copper-containing diet (gray bar chart). The values are reported as mean ± SEM of at least 3 experiments. Only in the middle midgut a significant difference between groups was observed (unpaired t-test: ^∗p < 0.01). Bars: 100 μm (A–E).