Structural diversity of secretory products in the glandular parts of the oviduct of two plethodontid salamanders (Amphibia, Urodela)

Title:

Structural diversity of secretory products in the glandular parts of the oviduct of two plethodontid salamanders (Amphibia, Urodela)

Creator:

Ehmcke, Jens, Clemen, Günter, and Greven, Hartmut

Identifier:

https://cdk.lib.cas.cz/client/handle/uuid:a7122375-2ccd-a395-d1d1-7f4b4d59c994
uuid:a7122375-2ccd-a395-d1d1-7f4b4d59c994

Subject:

oviduct, secretory granules, ultrastructure, plethodontids, and terrestrial eggs

Type:

article and TEXT

Description:

Semithin and in particular ultrathin sections of the glandular subdivisions in the oviduct of the terrestrial egg laying, direct developing plethodontid salamanders Bolitoglossa pesruba and Oedipina uniformis revealed remarkable structural differences of secretory products between the two species and in B. pesrubra between the different subdivisions of the duct. In the latter species structure of the secretory granules confirmed the previously described histological differentiation of the glandular portion of the oviduct in four subdivisions. In the first subdivision most secretory granules were moderately electron-dense having a distinct osmiophilic core, in the second these cores are absent, in the third granules revealed a complex inner structure and in the fourth they are more or less homogeneous and electron dense. In O. uniformis, however, secretory granules were differently stained in semithin sections with toluidine blue, but showed a homogeneous moderately electron-dense appearance along the entire oviduct. As oviductal secretions form the generally multi-layered glycoproteinaceous egg jelly enveloping the ovum when passing down the oviduct, our results suggest that in terrestrial breeders considerable differences exist in these secretions even at the structural level and, therefore, very likely in number and nature of egg jelly layers.

Language:

English

Rights:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/

Source:

Folia zoologica | 2003 Volume:52 | Number:2

Harvested from:

CDK

Metadata only:

false