scholarly journals Detailed morphological analysis of axolotl sperm

2021 ◽  
Vol 61 (3) ◽  
pp. e25
Author(s):  
İlknur Keskin ◽  
Duygu Gürsoy Gürgen ◽  
Didem Avinca ◽  
Ekrem Musa Özdemir ◽  
Suat Utku Keskin ◽  
...  

The axolotl has extraordinary regeneration capacity compared to other vertebrates. This remarkable potential has been attributed to its life-long neoteny, characterized by the exhibition of embryonic characteristics at the adult stage. A recent study provided a detailed morphological analysis of the sperm morphology of the Ambystoma mexicanum using routine and detailed histological techniques. The primary purpose of the present study is to describe a simple and inexpensive method for evaluating the morphology of axolotl sperm. In this study, spermatophore structures were collected and spread on slides and air-dried. The slides were stained with periodic acid Schiff, toluidine blue, Masson’s trichrome, Giemsa, Spermac, and Diff-Quik dye for a morphological examination. The slides were coated with gold/palladium for a scanning electron microscopy examination. The sperm of the axolotl consisted of an elongated head, a neck, and a flagellum covered with an undulating membrane. The lengths of the midpiece, tail, and head were 8.575 µm, 356.544 µm, and 103.661 µm, respectively. In the flagellum part, the wavy membrane structure, whose function has not been explained, surrounds the tail. The data obtained from this study will constitute an important step in designing future research on the reproductive and regeneration capacity of the axolotl.

2021 ◽  
Vol 880 (1) ◽  
pp. 012056
Author(s):  
Amer M. Hussin ◽  
Ali A. Tala’a ◽  
Safa Abdul Naser Fadhil ◽  
Hamzah Abdulrahman Salman

Abstract Monosodium glutamate (MSG) is a food additive that is considered as a water and environmental pollutant and affects the tissues of the living being. This study was aimed to find the effect of long-term administration of MSG on the mass of mesangial cells of the kidneys. Forty adult male rats were divided into four groups (10 each). Control groups 1&2 were supplied orally with distilled water for 30 and 60 days, respectively. Treatment groups 1&2 were supplied orally with 15 mg/kg Bwt of MSG for 30 & 60 days, respectively. Control and treatment groups were sacrificed, specimens of kidneys were obtained, fixed with 10% neutral buffered formalin, processed by Routine histological techniques, stained by Hematoxylin and eosin, and PAS (Periodic Acid-Schiff) stains then examined under the light microscope. The result found enlargement in a mesangial mass represented by hypertrophy and hyperplasia of mesangial cells leading to mesangial proliferative glomerulonephritis. Accordingly, the study showed an increase in creatinine values, indicating a disturbance in renal function. This will lead to a decrease in the sizes of the glomeruli of renal corpuscles and a relative increase of Bowman’s space. With the time of the experiment, the glomerular capillaries and gates of basement membranes will be closed, resulting in renal filtration disorders. It was concluded that the long-term intake of MSG leads to indirect narrowing of the glomerular capillary lumen, causing kidney failure.


Author(s):  
Cansu Akbulut

Neonicotinoids are the new class of insecticides that are high target specificity to insects. Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid that is the most widely used insecticide in the world. As a result of its widespread use in agriculture, imidacloprid interferes with the aquatic system and threatens the aquatic environment. In this study, an investigation of the histopathological effects of imidacloprid on zebrafish gonads was aimed. Zebrafish were exposed to 9.5 mg/L, 19 mg/L, and 38 mg/L of imidacloprid for 5 days, considering the 96 h LC50 value. After dissecting the gonadal tissues, routine histological techniques were applied, and the tissues were stained with Periodic Acid-Schiff (PAS), Toluidine Blue (TB), and Haematoxylin and Eosin (H&E). Sections were examined under a light microscope. While normal gonad histology was observed in the control group, histopathological alternations such as degeneration and union in the seminiferous tubules, hypertrophy in spermatogenic and Leydig cells, and interstitial fibrosis were detected in testicular tissue of the experimental groups. In the ovarian tissues of the experimental groups, structural deterioration in oocytes, autolysis, increase in the number of atretic oocytes, vacuolization in cortical alveoli, thickening and curling in the zona radiata, and opening in the perifollicular layers were detected.


2003 ◽  
Vol 62 (1) ◽  
pp. 237-243 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicki Strugala ◽  
Adrian Allen ◽  
Peter W. Dettmar ◽  
Jeffrey P. Pearson

Mucus is a water-insoluble gel secreted by the gastrointestinal tract. It exists as a protective gel layer adherent to the epithelial surface of the stomach, small intestine and colon. The mucus gel is composed of 1–10% (w/v) mucin glycoprotein in a plasma-like fluid. Since the mucus gel is predominantly water, standard histological techniques dehydrate the mucus, making visualisation of the functional barrier difficult. Specialist techniques have been developed to enable visualisation of the intact mucus layer. A simple histological method using snap-frozen tissue, sectioned with a cryostat and stained with modified periodic acid-Schiff s/Alcian blue in mucus-preserving conditions will be described. A second powerfulin vivoanimal model is described which enables measurement of mucus secretion over time. The use of these two methods has allowed the characterisation of the normal mucus layer in the colon and the determination of how it is affected by disease and dietary intervention, in particular the effect of dietary fibre, and evidence that fibre deficiency results in colonic mucosal fragility is presented.


Parasitology ◽  
1966 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 633-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. H. Bannister

An examination with light and electron microscopes has been made of the cell type which is considered by some authors to be a sporozoan parasite, Rhabdospora thelohani, and by others to be a tissue cell of fishes and amphibians.The cell type was found in the minnow Phoxinus phoxinus in many tissue sites, including olfactory and pharygneal epithelia, kidney, eyes and brain. In some specimens it could not be found in any tissue.The cell has a thick fibrous wall, a basal nucleus, an apical mitochondrial zone, a Golgi body, and from 8 to 50 characteristic refractile rodlets.The rodlets give a negative reaction to the Feulgen test for nuclear material, but are positive to the periodic acid–Schiff stain, a test for polysaccharide. Glycogen does not appear to be present in the rodlets.Under certain circumstances the rods rupture the cell wall and may protrude in the apical region of the cell.The structures described are discussed with the evidence for and against a parasitic interpretation of the cell. It is concluded that Rhabdospora is a protozoan parasite, whose exact functional and taxonomic status is as yet unknown.I am grateful to Professor G. E. H. Foxon and to Professor P. C. C. Garnham for their encouragement, advice, and helpful criticism of the manuscript. I am further indebted to the National Spastics Society for the use of the electron microscope housed in Guy&s Hospital Medical School, and to Mr I. D. Bradbrook for his assistance with the histological techniques.


Zygote ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 21 (2) ◽  
pp. 198-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
André Alberto Weber ◽  
Fábio Pereira Arantes ◽  
Yoshimi Sato ◽  
Elizete Rizzo ◽  
Nilo Bazzoli

SummaryThis study shows for the first time the presence of a jelly coat on oocytes of neotropical Characiformes fish. This structure could be responsible for the adhesiveness of Astyanax bimaculatus oocytes, a species widely distributed in South America including in the São Francisco River basin in Brazil. Adult specimens of A. bimaculatus were submitted to artificial reproduction in order to analyse the egg morphology and embryonic development. The eggs were fertilised and kept in incubators with a water temperature of 24°C so that embryogenesis could be monitored. Ovulated and unfertilised oocytes were also collected and submitted to routine histological techniques. Astyanax bimaculatus oocytes were found to be spherical, yellowish, and covered by a thin jelly coat with a slightly adhesive surface. The mean oocyte diameter was 1.03 ± 0.03 mm, the perivitelline space was 0.21 ± 0.02 mm and the jelly coat's thickness was 0.04 ± 0.01 mm. Positive periodic acid–Schiff (PAS) stain and Alcian blue stain pH 2.5 indicated the presence of neutral glycoproteins, and carboxylated acid glycoconjugates on the jelly coat that formed mucosubstances that may be associated with egg adhesiveness. At a water temperature of 24°C, blastopore closure and hatching occurred at 5 h and 17 h after fertilisation, respectively. The results of this study provide essential information for phylogenetic studies and for a better understanding of the reproductive strategy of A. bimaculatus, currently included in the incertae sedis group of the Characidae family due to the lack of monophyly among the families of the group.


Author(s):  
J. R. Ruby

Parotid glands were obtained from five adult (four male and one female) armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) which were perfusion-fixed. The glands were located in a position similar to that of most mammals. They extended interiorly to the anterior portion of the submandibular gland.In the light microscope, it was noted that the acini were relatively small and stained strongly positive with the periodic acid-Schiff (PAS) and alcian blue techniques, confirming the earlier results of Shackleford (1). Based on these qualities and other structural criteria, these cells have been classified as seromucous (2). The duct system was well developed. There were numerous intercalated ducts and intralobular striated ducts. The striated duct cells contained large amounts of PAS-positive substance.Thin sections revealed that the acinar cells were pyramidal in shape and contained a basally placed, slightly flattened nucleus (Fig. 1). The rough endoplasmic reticulum was also at the base of the cell.


1983 ◽  
Vol 49 (03) ◽  
pp. 182-186
Author(s):  
G T E Zonneveld ◽  
E F van Leeuwen ◽  
A Sturk ◽  
J W ten Cate

SummaryQuantitative glycoprotein (GP) analysis of whole platelets or platelet membranes was performed by SDS-polyacrylamide gelelectrophoresis (SDS-PAGE) and periodic acid Schiff staining in the families of two unrelated Glanzmann’s thrombasthenia (GT) patients. Each family consisted of two symptom free parents, a symptom free daughter and a GT daughter. All symptom free members had a normal bleeding time, clot retraction and platelet aggregation response to adenosine 5’-diphosphate (ADP), collagen and adrenalin. Platelet Zw* antigen was normally expressed in these subjects. GT patiens, classified as a type I and II subject, showed reduced amounts of GP lib and of GP nia. Analysis of isolated membranes in the non-reduced state, however, showed that the amount of GP Ilia was also reduced in three of the four parents, whereas one parent (of the GT type I patient) and the two unaffected daughters had normal amounts of GP Ilia. Quantitative SDS-PAGE may therefore provide a method for the detection of asymptomatic carriers in GT type I and II.


2020 ◽  
Vol 138 ◽  
pp. 237-246 ◽  
Author(s):  
J Řehulka ◽  
A Kubátová ◽  
V Hubka

In this study, spontaneous swim bladder mycosis was documented in a farmed fingerling rainbow trout from a raceway culture system. At necropsy, the gross lesions included a thickened swim bladder wall, and the posterior portion of the swim bladder was enlarged due to massive hyperplasia of muscle. A microscopic wet mount examination of the swim bladder contents revealed abundant septate hyphae, and histopathological examination showed periodic acid-Schiff-positive mycelia in the lumen and wall of the swim bladder. Histopathological examination of the thickened posterior swim bladder revealed muscle hyperplasia with expansion by inflammatory cells. The causative agent was identified as Phoma herbarum through morphological analysis and DNA sequencing. The disease was reproduced in rainbow trout fingerlings using intraperitoneal injection of a spore suspension. Necropsy in dead and moribund fish revealed extensive congestion and haemorrhages in the serosa of visceral organs and in liver and abdominal serosanguinous fluid. Histopathological examination showed severe hepatic congestion, sinusoidal dilatation, Kupffer cell reactivity, leukostasis and degenerative changes. Fungi were disseminated to the liver, pyloric caeca, kidney, spleen and heart. Although infections caused by Phoma spp. have been repeatedly reported in fish, species identification has been hampered by extensive taxonomic changes. The results of this study confirmed the pathogenicity of P. herbarum in salmonids by using a reliably identified strain during experimental fish infection and provides new knowledge regarding the course of infection.


2017 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 183-187
Author(s):  
George P. Christophi ◽  
Yeshika Sharma ◽  
Quader Farhan ◽  
Umang Jain ◽  
Ted Walker ◽  
...  

Background: Non-Langerhans histiocytosis is a group of inflammatory lymphoproliferative disorders originating from non-clonal expansion of hematopoietic stem cells into cytokine-secreting dendritic cells or macrophages. Erdheim-Chester Disease (ECD) is a rare type of non-Langerhans cell histiocytosis characterized by tissue inflammation and injury caused by macrophage infiltration and histologic findings of foamy histiocytes. Often ECD involves the skeleton, retroperitoneum and the orbits. This is the first report documenting ECD manifesting as segmental colitis and causing cytokine-release syndrome.Case presentation: A 68-year old woman presented with persistent fever without infectious etiology and hematochezia. Endoscopy showed segmental colitis and pathology revealed infiltration of large foamy histiocytes CD3-/CD20-/CD68+/CD163+/S100- consistent with ECD. The patient was empirically treated with steroids but continued to have fever and developed progressive distributive shock.Conclusion: This case report describes the differential diagnosis of infectious and immune-mediated inflammatory and rheumatologic segmental colitis. Non-Langerhans histiocytosis and ECD are rare causes of gastrointestinal inflammation. Prompt diagnosis is imperative for the appropriate treatment to prevent hemodynamic compromise due to distributive shock or gastrointestinal bleeding. Importantly, gastrointestinal ECD might exhibit poor response to steroid treatment and other potential treatments including chemotherapy, and biologic treatments targeting IL-1 and TNF-alpha signaling should be considered.Abbreviations: AFB: acid-fast bacilli; ECD: Erdheim-Chester Disease; IBD: inflammatory bowel disease; PASD: periodic acid-Schiff with diastase; TB: tuberculosis


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