1,721,034 research outputs found

    Ultrastructural features of the gut in the white sturgeon, Acipenser transmontanus.

    No full text
    Electron-microscopic examinations of the sturgeon gut were performed. Oesophageal goblet cells were abundant in the stratified epithelium. The ultrastructural features of the secretory granules of the oesophageal and intestinal goblet cells were quite similar to those of other vertebrates. Lobules of multilocular adipose tissue were observed in the deep tunica propriasubmucosa of the oesophagus, in close association with vasculature and large fibre bundles of myelinated and unmyelinated axons. Similarly composed nerve fibre bundles were observed in the cardiac stomach, too. The presence of myelinated axons is an unusual feature in the vertebrate enteric nervous system. Cardiac and fundic zones of the stomach showed an epithelium with columnar ciliated and non-ciliated cells, the latter equipped with fuzzy microvilli. Cells lining the tubular gastric proper glands were markedly granulated. Intestinal superficial epithelium was columnar and contained ciliated, as well as non-ciliated and goblet cells. In the tunica propria all over the intestine, the presence and ultrastructure of granulated cells was in addition described. Intraepithelial granulated leukocytes were seen throughout the alimentary canal. Various types of endocrine cells were seen both in the stomach and in the intestine, the size of their granules was measured and their ultrastructure described and compared to that of mammalian cell types

    Histochemical analysis of glycoconjugate secretion in the alimentary canal of Anguilla anguilla L.

    No full text
    Conventional histochemical methods as well as lectin-binding techniques were used to study glycoconjugates that are present in the alimentary canal of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla). Specimens from pharynx, oesophagus, stomach and intestine were collected from adult (“silver eel” stage) females. Alcian Blue pH 2.5/PAS and High Iron Diamine/Alcian Blue pH 2.5 reactions were performed to stain neutral and acidic glycoconjugates. In addition, lectin histochemistry was applied to identify acidic glycoconjugates containing O-acylated sialic acids. Finally, the presence of sugar residues in the oligosaccharide side chains of glycoconjugates were investigated by using biotinylated lectins. Acidic and neutral glycoconjugates were found to be secreted throughout the alimentary canal, the acidic glycoconjugates appeared to be either sialylated or sulphated. Sialylated glycoconjugates were identified to contain sialic acid substituted at carbon in position 7 (C7). Sulphated glycoconjugates were particularly abundant in the distal intestine and were not present in the secretory products of the gastric mucosa, which contained a variety of sugar residues (D-N-acetyl-galactosamine, β-D-galactose, α-D-mannose, α-L-fucose, D-N-acetyl-glucosamine). Lectin binding was observed in mucous cells of pharynx, oesophagus and intestine, and particularly some monosaccharides (D-N-acetyl-galactosamine and β-D-galactose) were abundantly present

    Neurotransmitters and putative neuromediators in the gut of Anguilla anguilla (L.). Localizations in the enteric nervous and endocrine systems

    No full text
    The gut of silver eels (Anguilla anguilla L.) was investigated in order to describe both the cholinergic and adrenergic intramural innervations, and the localization of possible accessory neuromediators. Histochemical reactions for the demonstration of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate, reduced form-(NADPH-)diaphorase and acetylcholinesterase (AChEase) were performed, as well as the immunohistochemical testing of tyrosine hydroxylase, met-enkephalin, substance P, calcitonin gene-related peptide (CGRP), bombesin, vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP), neuropeptide Y (NPY), somatostatin, cholecystokinin-octapeptide (CCK-8), serotonin, cholineacetyl transferase. The results evidenced a different pattern in comparison with other vertebrates, namely mammals, and with other fish. Both NADPH-diaphorase and AChEase activities were histochemically detected all along the gut in the myenteric plexus, the inner musculature and the propria-submucosa. Tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity was observed in the intestinal tract only, both in the myenteric plexus and in the inner musculature. Several neuropeptides (metenkephalin, CGRP, bombesin, substance P, VIP, NPY, somatostatin) were, in addition, detected in the intramural innervation; some of them also in epithelial cells of the diffuse endocrine system (met-enkephalin, substance P, NPY, somatostatin). Serotonin was only present in endocrine cells. Tyrosine hydroxylase immunoreactivity was present in localizations similar to those of NADPH-diaphorase-reactivity, and in the same nerve bundles in which substance P- and CGRP-like-immunoreactivities were detectable in the intestinal tract. In addition, NADPH-diaphorase-reactive neurons showed an anatomical relationship with AChEase-reactive nerve terminals, and a similar relationship existed between the latter and substance P-like immunoreactivity
    corecore