Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gxg78 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T12:56:47.560Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

The Localization of Organically Bound Iodine in the Endostyle of Amphioxus

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

E. J. W. Barrington
Affiliation:
Department of Zoology, The University, Nottingham

Extract

An account is given of some features of the organization of the endostyle of Amphioxus, with particular reference to the distribution of sites of mucus secretion as indicated by positive responses to tests for acid mucopolysaccharides. Autoradiography shows that the centre of distribution of organically-bound iodine is associated with the tips of the mucus-secreting cells of zone 5, and not with the glandular tracts. Mucus secretion also occurs elsewhere in the endostyle (although not in the dorsal glandular tracts), but as it is not associated with any accumulation of bound iodine it is concluded that the binding in zone 5 is a specialized property of the cells of that particular zone. The results are discussed in the light of recent work on the protochordates and the ammocoete larva, and it is concluded that in Amphioxus, as in the Tunicata, there is reason for supposing that the iodination process is a biochemical specialization and that its product must therefore be of some physiological significance to the organism. Attention is also drawn to the evolutionary interest of the association of iodine-binding with a mucin rather than with a glycoprotein.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1958

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barrington, E. J. W., 1957. The distribution and significance of organically bound iodine in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis Linnaeus. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 36, pp. 115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrington, E. J. W. & Franchi, L. L., 1956a. Organic binding of iodine in the endostyle of Ciona intestinalis. Nature, Lond., Vol. 177, p. 432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrington, E. J. W. & 1956b. Some cytological characteristics of thyroidal function in the endostyle of the ammocoete larva. Quart. J. micr. Sci., Vol. 97, pp. 393410.Google Scholar
Gorbman, A., 1955. Some aspects of the comparative biochemistry of iodine utilization and the evolution of thyroidal function. Physiol. Rev., Vol. 35, pp. 336–46.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gorbman, A. & Creaser, C. W., 1942. Accumulation of radio-active iodine by the endostyle of larval lampreys and the problem of homology of the thyroid. J. exp. Zool., Vol. 89, pp. 391406.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lison, L., 1954. Alcian blue 8 G with chlorantine fast red 5 B. A technic for selective staining of mucopolysaccharides. Stain Tech., Vol.29, pp. 131‐8.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Možejko, B., 1913. Mikrotechnische Mitteilungen. X. Karrninfütterung des Amphioxus. Z. vriss. Mikr., Bd.30, pp. 5967.Google Scholar
Orton, J. H., 1913. The ciliary mechanisms of the gill and the mode of feeding in Amphioxus, ascidians and Solenomya togata. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 10, pp. 1949.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pearse, G. E., 1954. Histochemistry, Theoretical and Applied.London: Churchill.Google Scholar
Sembrat, K., 1953. Effect of the endostyle of the lancelet (Branchiostoma lanceolatus Pall.) on the metamorphosis of axolotl. Zool. Polon., Vol.6, pp. 319.Google Scholar
Steedman, H. F., 1950. Alcian blue 8 GS: A new stain for mucin. Quart. J. micr. Sci., Vol. 91, pp. 477–9.Google Scholar
Thomas, I. M., 1956. The accumulation of radioactive iodine by Amphioxus. J. mar. biol. Ass. U.K., Vol. 35, pp. 203–10.CrossRefGoogle Scholar