Article EFFECT OF STARVATION ON LIPOPHORIN DENSITY IN FIFTH INSTAR LARVAL Manduca sexta Katia C. Gondim Instituto de Bioqu´ ımica M´ edica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil James E. Pennington Department of Biochemistry and Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Jos ´ e Roberto Meyer-Fernandes and Michele Alves-Bezerra Instituto de Bioqu´ ımica M´ edica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Michael A. Wells Department of Biochemistry and Center for Insect Science, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona Lipophorin (Lp) is a major insect lipoprotein and is responsible for lipid transport between organs. In this study, the effect of starvation on Lp properties was analyzed in larval Manduca sexta during the fifth instar. Lp hemolymph concentrations in larvae at days 1 and 2 were around 2–3 mg/ml and at day 3 it increased to 8 mg/ml. When larvae were starved for 24 h, they did not grow, but their body mass and hemolymph volume did not decrease significantly. Differences in Lp densities were observed. In fed larvae, from days 1 to 4, two major Lp populations were found with densities of 1.124 ± 0.002 (high density Lp-larval 1 , HDLp-L 1 ) and 1.141 ± 0.002 g/ml (HDLp-L 2 ). When larvae were starved for 24 h, only one Lp population was present, with density 1.114 ± 0.001 g/ml (HDLp-L s ). When larvae were abdominally ligated at day 1 or 2 of fifth instar, only HDLp-L s was found after 24 h, indicating that the formation of this HDLp population was not dependent on any factor released by Correspondence to: Katia C. Gondim, Instituto de Bioqu´ ımica M´ edica, Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro, Av. Carlos Chagas Filho, 373, Ilha do Fund˜ ao, Rio de Janeiro 21941-902, Brazil. E-mail: katia@bioqmed.ufrj.br ARCHIVES OF INSECT BIOCHEMISTRY AND PHYSIOLOGY, Vol. 84, No. 3, 145–156 (2013) Published online in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com). C  2013 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. DOI: 10.1002/arch.21133