ABSTRACT Estivation (also referred to as aestivation), a hypometabolic state used by a variety of organisms to survive harsh environmental conditions, is ubiquitous among the pulmonate snails. While estivation in pulmonates has been well studied at the biochemical and behavioral levels, recent advances in analytical methodology, particularly in the chromatographic methods, have been used successfully to study the effects of estivation on various metabolites in snail tissue and hemolymph. This review discusses the application of various chromatographic methods, including thin-layer chromatography, high performance thin-layer chromatography, high performance liquid chromatography, and gas chromatography, to the determination of selected metabolite classes such as neutral and polar lipids, carbohydrates, carboxylic acids, amino acids, lipophilic pigments, and purine bases in estivating pulmonate snails. Findings generally provide support for the biochemical and physiological processes that occur during estivation, such as metabolic rate reduction, the use of carbohydrates and lipids as the primary nutrients for energy production, and the possible recruitment of anaerobic pathways to supplement a reduced oxidative metabolism.
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