Otoconia formation in the chick embryo

Author(s):  
C.D. Fermin ◽  
M. Igarashi

Otoconia are microscopic geometric structures that cover the sensory epithelia of the utricle and saccule (gravitational receptors) of mammals, and the lagena macula of birds. The importance of otoconia for maintanance of the body balance is evidenced by the abnormal behavior of species with genetic defects of otolith. Although a few reports have dealt with otoconia formation, some basic questions remain unanswered. The chick embryo is desirable for studying otoconial formation because its inner ear structures are easily accessible, and its gestational period is short (21 days of incubation).The results described here are part of an intensive study intended to examine the morphogenesis of the otoconia in the chick embryo (Gallus- domesticus) inner ear. We used chick embryos from the 4th day of incubation until hatching, and examined the specimens with light (LM) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The embryos were decapitated, and fixed by immersion with 3% cold glutaraldehyde. The ears and their parts were dissected out under the microscope; no decalcification was used. For LM, the ears were embedded in JB-4 plastic, cut serially at 5 micra and stained with 0.2% toluidine blue and 0.1% basic fuchsin in 25% alcohol.

Development ◽  
1980 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 291-306
Author(s):  
Stephen Meier

The early development of the mesoblast in the intermediate and lateral regions of the chick embryo was examined with the scanning and transmission electron microscope. It was found that primary mesenchyme here becomes condensed into epithelial structures that emerge in a metameric pattern. Viewed in developmental sequence, the intermediate mesoblast condenses into a narrowing cord of axially oriented cells which divert medially at regular intervals into the intersegmental interfaces of somitomeres and somites. These cells give rise to the vascular channels of the posterior cardinal vein as well as to tubular elements of the pronephros. Intermediate mesenchyme cells become epithelial, forming zonular junctional complexes apically and depositing patchy basal lamina over their basal surfaces. The lateral plate mesenchyme organizes similarly into somatic and splanchnic epithelial sheets that utilize the body coelom as their lumenal surface. Cells of the lateral plate extend filopodia basally that interweave with adjacent cells, fibrillar extracellular matrix, as well as with interstitial bodies. The pattern in the lateral plate is subtly ribbed as bands of mesoblast undulate along the axis. The central region of each band is raised while there are grooves created along lines of band abutment, corresponding to intersegmental clefts in the paraxial region and reflecting an underlying metameric pattern. These grooves are usually demarked medially by the protrusion of short segments of adjacent intermediate mesoblast. Most of the remaining primary mesenchyme develops into a non-metameric vascular epithelium, which forms a prominent anastamosing plexus between splanchnic mesoderm and endoderm. It is proposed that the emergence of primary mesenchyme into patterned epithelial anlage facilitates the distribution of neural crest cells introduced subsequently.


Author(s):  
K. Hama

The lateral line organs of the sea eel consist of canal and pit organs which are different in function. The former is a low frequency vibration detector whereas the latter functions as an ion receptor as well as a mechano receptor.The fine structure of the sensory epithelia of both organs were studied by means of ordinary transmission electron microscope, high voltage electron microscope and of surface scanning electron microscope.The sensory cells of the canal organ are polarized in front-caudal direction and those of the pit organ are polarized in dorso-ventral direction. The sensory epithelia of both organs have thinner surface coats compared to the surrounding ordinary epithelial cells, which have very thick fuzzy coatings on the apical surface.


Author(s):  
P. Fraundorf ◽  
J. Tentschert

Since the discovery of their etchability in the early 1960‘s, nuclear particle tracks in insulators have had a diverse and exciting history of application to problems ranging from the selective filtration of cancer cells from blood to the detection of 244Pu in the early solar system. Their usefulness stems from the fact that they are comprised of a very thin (e.g. 20-40Å) damage core which etches more rapidly than does the bulk material. In fact, because in many insulators tracks are subject to radiolysis damage (beam annealing) in the transmission electron microscope, the body of knowledge concerning etched tracks far outweighs that associated with latent (unetched) tracks in the transmission electron microscope.With the development of scanned probe microscopies with lateral resolutions on the near atomic scale, a closer look at the structure of unetched nuclear particle tracks, particularly at their point of interface with solid surfaces, is now warranted and we think possible. The ion explosion spike model of track formation, described loosely, suggests that a burst of ionization along the path of a charged particle in an insulator creates an electrostatically unstable array of adjacent ions which eject one another by Coulomb repulsion from substitutional into interstitial sites. Regardless of the mechanism, the ejection process which acts to displace atoms along the track core seems likely to operate at track entry and exit surfaces, with the added feature of mass loss at those surfaces as well. In other words, we predict pits whose size is comparable to the track core width.


Author(s):  
H.J. Ryu ◽  
A.B. Shah ◽  
Y. Wang ◽  
W.-H. Chuang ◽  
T. Tong

Abstract When failure analysis is performed on a circuit composed of FinFETs, the degree of defect isolation, in some cases, requires isolation to the fin level inside the problematic FinFET for complete understanding of root cause. This work shows successful application of electron beam alteration of current flow combined with nanoprobing for precise isolation of a defect down to fin level. To understand the mechanism of the leakage, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) slice was made along the leaky drain contact (perpendicular to fin direction) by focused ion beam thinning and lift-out. TEM image shows contact and fin. Stacking fault was found in the body of the silicon fin highlighted by the technique described in this paper.


Author(s):  
Julian Bibermair ◽  
Andrew N. Ostrovsky ◽  
Andreas Wanninger ◽  
Thomas Schwaha

AbstractBryozoa is a phylum of aquatic, colonial suspension-feeders within the Lophotrochozoa. In the Phylactolaemata embryonic development occurs in an internal brood sac on the body wall accompanied by extraembryonic nutrition. Owing to previous contradictive descriptions, many aspects of their sexual reproduction require restudy. Consequently, this study analyses embryogenesis of the freshwater bryozoan Plumatella casmiana by serial sections, 3D reconstruction and transmission electron microscopy. Early embryos cleave and soon develop into blastulae with a small central cavity. The mesoderm forms by delamination starting from the distal side towards the proximal end. In later embryos two polypides form on the posterior side that ultimately will be covered by a ciliated mantle in the larva. Embryos increase in size during development and form temporary cell contacts to the embryo sac. Mesodermal cells of the embryo sac show signs of transcellular transport indicating that embryos are nourished by transferring nutrients from the maternal coelom towards the brood cavity. This study clarifies several details such as mesoderm formation and the onset of bud development. Embryos are connected to their respective embryo sacs by a variety of temporary cytoplasmic processes formed by both tissues during embryogenesis, including a ‘placental’ ring zone. Although ultrastructural data of these cell contacts are not entirely conclusive about their function, we suggest that embryos absorb nutrients via the entire surface. The close opposition of embryos to the embryo sac implies placentation as matrotrophic mode in phylactolaemate bryozoans, with embryo sacs acting as placental analogues.


Parasitology ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 62 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-488 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gwendolen Rees

Scanning electron-micrographs have shown the covering of microvilli on the surface of the redia of Parorchis acanthus. In the contracted state the elongated microvilli with bulbous extremities seen in the surface grooves may be the result of compression. The surface of the epidermis of the cercaria is smooth on a large area of the ventral surface and lattice-like with microvilli, laterally, anteriorly, dorsally and on the tail. The spines on the body can be withdrawn into sheaths by the contraction of muscle fibres inserted into the basement lamina below each spine.I would like to express my sincere gratitude to Dr I. ap Gwynn of this department for preparing the scanning electron-micrographs and the School of Engineering Science, University of North Wales, Bangor for the use of their stereoscan. I should also like to thank Mr M. C. Bibby for technical assistance and Professor E. G. Gray and Dr W. Sinclair for assistance with the transmission electron-micrographs.


1975 ◽  
Vol 66 (1) ◽  
pp. 198-200 ◽  
Author(s):  
D Mazia ◽  
G Schatten ◽  
W Sale

Cells of many kinds adhere firmly to glass or plastic surfaces which have been pretreated with polylysine. The attachment takes place as soon as the cells make contact with the surfaces, and the flattening of the cells against the surfaces is quite rapid. Cells which do not normally adhere to solid surfaces, such as sea urchin eggs, attach as well as cells which normally do so, such as amebas or mammalian cells in culture. The adhesion is interpreted simply as the interaction between the polyanionic cell surfaces and the polycationic layer of adsorbed polylysine. The attachment of cells to the polylysine-treated surfaces can be exploited for a variety of experimental manipulations. In the preparation of samples for scanning or transmission electron microscopy, the living material may first be attached to a polylysine-coated plate or grid, subjected to some experimental treatment (fertilization of an egg, for example), then transferred rapidly to fixative and further passed through processing for observation; each step involves only the transfer of the plate or grid from one container to the next. The cells are not detached. The adhesion of the cell may be so firm that the body of the cell may be sheared away, leaving attached a patch of cell surface, face up, for observation of its inner aspect. For example, one may observe secretory vesicles on the inner face of the surface (3) or may study the association of filaments with the inner surface (Fig. 1). Subcellular structures may attach to the polylysine-coated surfaces. So far, we have found this to be the case for nuclei isolated from sea urchin embryos and for the microtubules of flagella, which are well displayed after the membrane has been disrupted by Triton X-100 (Fig. 2).


Development ◽  
1971 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 481-495
Author(s):  
Par Elisabeth Houssaint ◽  
Nicole Le Douarin

Cholinesterases in the chick liver. The role of the endoderm in the appearance of the activity of cholinesterases in the hepatic mesenchyme The histochemical method of Koelle & Friedenwald (1949), as modified by Gerebtzoff (1953), has been used to investigate the distribution of cholinesterases in the chick embryonic and adult liver. Non-specific cholinesterases and, in a lower proportion acetylcholinesterase, have been detected in the endothelial cells of blood sinusoids of both adult and embryonic hepatic tissue. The hepatocytes do not show any cholinesterase activity. Cholinesterases appear precociously in the liver mesenchyme, since they already occur in the septum transversum of the 3-day-old chick embryo. An experimental procedure preventing the invasion of the hepatic mesenchymal Anlage by the endodermic cords has been used. The experimentally isolated hepatic mesenchyme shows an important cholinesterase activity; therefore this activity does not depend on the presence of the hepatocytes. The grafting of the determined hepatic endodern in the somatopleura of the 3-day-old chick embryo results in the development of hepatic tissue in the body wall. In this experimentally produced liver, cholinesterase activities are present in the endothelial cells which have arisen from somatopleura mesenchymal cells, though normally somatopleural mesenchyme does not possess these enzymes. The role of the endoderm in the appearance of this enzymic activity in the somatopleural mesenchyme is discussed.


Heritage ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (3) ◽  
pp. 2480-2494 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marie Godet ◽  
Gauthier Roisine ◽  
Emmie Beauvoit ◽  
Daniel Caurant ◽  
Odile Majérus ◽  
...  

Bernard Palissy is a French Renaissance ceramist renowned for his masterpieces called Rustiques Figulines on which dozens of glazes of different chemistries (and thus firing behaviors) coexist harmoniously. This study aims at gathering information on the master procedure -never revealed- by investigating the body-glaze interface region (focusing on iron-colored honey transparent glaze-white body system). Optical and electron microscopies including transmission electron microscopy (TEM) are used to characterize the micro and nanostructure of both archaeological and replicas interfaces elaborated in controlled conditions (firing time, cooling rate, addition of Al in the glazing mixture). Both types of interfaces are comparable: a modified paste area from which are growing a relatively continuous layer of interfacial crystals identified as lead feldspars (K,Ca)PbAl2Si2O8 micro-sized single-crystals incorporating mullite 3Al2O3.2SiO2 nano-sized single-crystals. Modification of the firing parameters and removal of Al from the glazing mixture change essentially the interface extension and the micro-crystals morphology. By comparing archaeological and replica interfaces and considering previous studies, we can now state that Palissy was very likely adding clay (Al) in his frit. Moreover, he was probably working with a firing time of more than 1 h followed by slow cooling in the oven.


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