The structure of the antennal heart of Aedes aegypti (Linnaeus)

1997 ◽  
Vol 75 (3) ◽  
pp. 444-458 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. D. Sun ◽  
J. M. Schmidt

The structure of the antennal heart of Aedes aegypti (L.) (Diptera: Culicidae) was observed using light and electron microscopy. The antennal heart consists of several distinct regions including a single layer of columnar cells, the chamber walls, the valve, the z-body, the muscle fibres, and the connective tissue filaments. The columnar cells are structurally similar to secretory and osmoregulatory cells. Features of tendinous epidermal cells typically involved in the attachment of muscles to the cuticle can be observed in various areas of the antennal heart when it is examined as a whole. A model describing the pumping mechanism of the antennal heart in A. aegypti is presented.

1990 ◽  
Vol 68 (7) ◽  
pp. 1454-1467 ◽  
Author(s):  
K. M. Fry ◽  
S. B. McIver

Light and electron microscopy were used to observe development of the lateral palatal brush in Aedes aegypti (L.) larvae. Development was sampled at 4-h intervals from second- to third-instar ecdyses. Immediately after second-instar ecdysis, the epidermis apolyses from newly deposited cuticle in the lateral palatal pennicular area to form an extensive extracellular cavity into which the fourth-instar lateral palatal brush filaments grow as cytoplasmic extensions. On reaching their final length, the filaments deposit cuticulin, inner epicuticle, and procuticle sequentially on their outer surfaces. The lateral palatal crossbars, on which the lateral palatal brush filaments insert, form after filament development is complete. At the beginning of development, the organelles involved in plasma membrane and cuticle production are located at the base and middle of the cells. As the filament rudiments grow, most rough endoplasmic reticulum, mitochondria, and Golgi apparatus move to the apex of the epidermal cells and into the filament rudiments. After formation of the lateral palatal brush filaments and lateral palatal crossbars, extensive organelle breakdown occurs. Lateral palatal brush formation is unusual in that no digestion and resorption of old endocuticle occurs prior to deposition of new cuticle. No mucopolysaccharide secretion by the lateral palatal brush epidermis was observed, nor were muscle fibres observed to attach to the lateral palatal crossbars, as has been suggested by other workers.


1983 ◽  
Vol 217 (1207) ◽  
pp. 191-213 ◽  

Purkinje strands from both ventricles of adult mongrel dogs were excised, and electrical properties were studied by the voltage-clamp technique. The strands were then examined with light and electron microscopy and structural properties were analysed by morphometric techniques. The canine Purkinje strand contains (by volume) about 28% myocyte and 55% dense outer connective tissue. The remainder of the volume is taken up by the inner shell of loosely packed connective tissue within 10 μm of a myocyte membrane. These volume fractions vary considerably from one strand to another. Clefts less than 10 μm wide occupy 18% of the myocyte volume and clefts less than 1 μm wide occupy 1%. The membrane surface area of the myocytes can be divided into three categories by reference to the size of the adjacent cleft. About 47.8% of the membrane surface area faces clefts wider than 1 μm, another 22.2% faces clefts between 0.1 and 1 μm wide, and the final 30% faces clefts less than 0.1 μm wide. The surface area facing the narrowest clefts (less than 0.1 μm wide) is divided between nexuses 3%, desmosomes 10%, and unspecialized membrane 17% (each figure is expressed as a percentage of the total surface area of myocyte membrane). The canine Purkinje strand has a more favourable anatomy than the sheep Purkinje strand for most physiological experiments. We expect that the complicating effects of series resistance and change in the concentration of extracellular ions will be much smaller than in sheep strands, but still not negligible.


Author(s):  
Eve C. Southward

Light and electron microscopy showed the same distribution of glycogen. The peritoneal cells contain large amounts in all three body regions investigated: the forepart, metameric region and postannular region. Glycogen is present in most epidermal cells and is very abundant in some, particularly in the postannular region, but the cells which secrete the chitinous and proteinaceous components of the tube are almost devoid of glycogen.


Parasitology ◽  
1969 ◽  
Vol 59 (2) ◽  
pp. 449-459 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. E. Howells

The nephridial system of M. expansa has been studied using light and electron microscopy, and a number of histochemical techniques have been used on sections of the worm. The organization of the nephridial system and the fine structure of the flame cells and the nephridial ducts are described. Pores, which connect the nephridial lumen to the intercellular space of the connective tissue, exist at the junction of a flame cell and a nephridial duct. These pores may be considered nephrostomes and the system therefore is not protonephridial as defined by Hyman (1951).The epithelium lining the nephridial ducts has a structure which suggests that it is metabolically active. It is postulated that the beating of the cilia of the flame cells draws fluid into the ducts via the nephrostomes, with absorption and/or secretion of solutes being carried out by the epithelial cells of the duct walls. The function of the nephridial system is discussed.I am grateful to Professor James Brough for the provision of research facilities at the Department of Zoology, University College, Cardiff, andtoDrD. A. Erasmus for much helpful advice during the course of the work. I wish to thank Professors W. Peters and T. Wilson for critically reading the manuscript and Miss M. Williams and Mr T. Davies for expert technical assistance.I also wish to thank the Veterinary Inspector and his staff at the Roath Abattoir, Cardiff, for their kind co-operation and assistance in obtaining material.The work was carried out under the tenure of an S.R.C. research scholarship.


1955 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 139 ◽  
Author(s):  
R Endean

The test of this species is particularly bulky and consists of gelatinous material which encloses the fleshy part of the animal, leaving openings only for the two siphons. It also forms a resilient basal stem which anchors the animal to the substratum. The outer surface of the test is impregnated with sand grains, which form a hard protective layer. Blood-vessels traverse the gelatinous material. Two large vessels enter the test and these branch to form ultimately a ramifying system of small blood-vessels. Effectively there are two blood circulations in the test. The blood-vessels have a lining consisting of a single layer of large columnar cells, the appearance of which is described. The gelatinous test resolves itself under the microscope into a network of fibres of variable thickness, but the larger ones at least are aggregates of smaller fibrils. In some cases the fibres are orientated in definite directions. The amorphous interfibrillar material seems to be mainly aqueous, as the test consists of over 97 per cent. of plasma. Ferrocytes wander about in amoeboid fashion amongst the fibres. These enter the substance of the test by migrating across the walls of the bloodvessels. Histologically there is a marked similarity between the appearance of the test and that of vertebrate connective tissue, as in both cases cells are present in a groundmass enmeshed by fibres which stain with orcein and fuchsin. However, the fibres of the test are composed of a very insoluble polysaccliaride, Which although resembling plant cellulose in certain respects will not dissolve in special cellulose solvents nor stain with cellulose stains. A mucopolysaccharide which stains metachromatically with toluidine blue is associated with the fibrillar material, and possibly serves to cement the fibres together since these became disarranged on treatment with hyaluronidase, which removes the mucopolysaccharide. The importance of the test in the general economy of the animal is discussed.


1974 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 571-585 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. F. R.KERR ◽  
B. HARMON ◽  
J. SEARLE

The mechanism of cell deletion responsible for involution of the anuran tadpole tail during spontaneous metamorphosis was studied by light and electron microscopy, attention being focused on epidermis and striated muscle. The earliest indication of pending dissolution of epidermal cells was found to be aggregation of condensed chromatin beneath the nuclear envelope. This is followed by breaking up of the nucleus, and cytoplasmic condensation and budding with the production of a number of compact, membrane-bounded cell fragments with relatively well preserved organelles. These are then ingested and degraded by nearby viable cells, the majority by distinctive macrophage-like cells, which are scattered throughout the epidermis, and a few by epithelial cells. The morphological changes observed in the dying epidermal cells are the same as those described both in the ‘programmed cell death’ that plays an important role in the normal development of vertebrate embryos and in the type of cell death that has been shown to be involved in regulating the size of tissues in adult mammals under normal as well as pathological conditions; it has been suggested elsewhere that apoptosis might be a suitable name for the phenomenon. Deletion of striated muscle fibres in the tadpole tail is accomplished by a process that appears to be a modification of classical apoptosis, in which dilatation and confluence of elements of the sarcoplasmic reticulum lead to internal fragmentation, the usual surface budding presumably being precluded by the large volume and specialized structure of these cells. The early and late nuclear changes, and the apparent ultrastructural integrity of organelles in the membrane-bounded muscle fragments are typical of apoptosis, and subsequent degradation within macrophages follows the standard stereotyped pattern. An essentially similar process has been described by others in the muscles of metamorphosing insect larvae, but whether striated muscle cells in adult higher vertebrates can undergo apoptosis is still uncertain.


2017 ◽  
Vol 142 (6) ◽  
pp. 464-469
Author(s):  
Yin Xu ◽  
Yizhou Ma ◽  
Nicholas P. Howard ◽  
Changbin Chen ◽  
Cindy B.S. Tong ◽  
...  

Soft scald is an apple (Malus ×domestica Borkh.) fruit disorder that appears in response to cold storage after about 2–8 weeks. It appears as a ribbon of dark tissue on the peel of the fruit, with occasional browning into the flesh. Several apple cultivars are susceptible to it, including Honeycrisp. The objectives of this study were to examine the cellular microstructure of fruit exhibiting soft scald and determine if any aspect of the peel microstructure at harvest could be indicative of future soft scald incidence. Light and electron microscopy were used to examine the peel microstructure of ‘Honeycrisp’ fruit that were unaffected or affected by soft scald. Tissue with soft scald had brown pigmented epidermal and hypodermal cells, whereas unaffected fruit peel epidermal cells were unpigmented. Cuticular wax of unaffected peel had upright wax platelets or clumps of wax, but peel surfaces with soft scald exhibited flattened granules and were more fragile than that of unaffected fruit. Epidermal cells of fruit with soft scald were more disorganized than that of unaffected fruit. Light microscopy was used to examine peels of ‘Honeycrisp’ fruit from four growing locations and fruit from a ‘Honeycrisp’ breeding population at harvest. ‘Honeycrisp’ and ‘Honeycrisp’ progeny fruit were also stored at 0 °C for 8 weeks and scored for soft scald incidence. Cross-sections of unaffected peel of stored ‘Honeycrisp’ fruit looked similar to that of freshly harvested fruit. No significant correlations were found between soft scald incidence and measured microstructural attributes of ‘Honeycrisp’ fruit at harvest, suggesting that peel microstructure cannot be used to predict possible soft scald incidence after storage.


The glio-vascular organization of the octopus brain has been studied by light and electron microscopy. The structure of the walls of the blood vessels has been described. Two types of neuroglia can be recognized, the fibrous and protoplasmic glia; also enigmatic dark cells. Most blood vessels in the neuropil are surrounded by extracellular zones containing collagen. These zones give off glio-vascular tunnels (strands) that penetrate the neuropil in a complex network. The extracellular zones and tunnels contain in addition to collagen, smooth muscle cells and fibrocytes. Glial processes surround the extracellular zones and incompletely partition them from the neuropil. The small neuronal perikarya have no glial folds around them. The medium-size cells have thin glial sheets or finger processes related to their surfaces, which may indent the cells to form small trophospongia. The large neurons of the suboesophageal lobe have complex glial sheaths interspersed with extracellular channels. Both penetrate the neurons to form complex trophospongia. A new form of extracellular material has been observed in these extracellular channels. The occurrence of trophospongia in vertebrate and invertebrate neurons may be correlated with the absence of dendrites. Special problems discussed include the nature of the trophospongial function, the question of fluid-filled extracellular zones and their possible function as lymph channels, and the presence in some of them of haemocyanin molecules identical with those in the blood vessels. Perhaps of special importance is the observation that the lobes of the octopus brain are permeated with extracellular tunnels containing smooth muscle fibres, but it still needs to be determined whether or not the muscle cells in the tunnels of the neuropil actively contract and massage the neuropil to facilitate metabolic and other exchanges.


1988 ◽  
Vol 102 (4) ◽  
pp. 304-307 ◽  
Author(s):  
Darí Morais ◽  
Miguel Gonz´lez ◽  
Rosario Del Villar ◽  
Manuel J. Gayoso

Neomycin was instilled daily, uni-or bilaterally, into the middle ear of guinea pigs for three months. The cochleae were examined, by light and electron microscopy, six months after the end of treatment. The organs of Corti of the treated ears were completely destroyed, and in the most advanced lesions, were substituted by a single layer of very thin flat cells. In the spiral ganglion only some glial cells and a few neurons could be observed. All surviving neurons were myelinated, and their ultrastructure was greatly altered, with disappeared, losing it amorphous and filamentous components. The spiral limbus and the stria vascularis were atrophic and were also covered, in the final stages, by flat elongated cells. In view of its morphological characteristics, this epithelium may arise from the displacement of the interdental cells and perhaps from the cochlear surface of Reissner's membrane.


Author(s):  
Brij L. Gupta ◽  
Colin Little ◽  
Ann M. Philip

The structure of the tentacle in two species of Pogonophora (of the genera Nereilinum and Oligobrachia) has been investigated by light- and electron-microscopy. The fine structure of the pinnules, epidermal cells and mucous cells is described. The surface membrane of the epidermal cells and the pinnules forms an elaborate system of microvilli which traverse the cuticle and often extend up to the surface particles.


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