Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-t8hqh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-30T15:28:39.712Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Fine structure of the secretory epithelium in the hypobranchial gland of the prosobranch gastropod mollusc Buccinum undatum L

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 May 2009

S. Hunt
Affiliation:
Department of Biological Sciences, University of Lancaster, Bailrigg, Lancaster, England

Extract

The secretory epithelium in the hypobranchial gland of Buccinum undatum L. consists of a single layer of elongated cells resting upon a basement membrane which overlies layers of connective tissue and muscle. Three principal types of cell are present. Two of these participate in the actual production of the mucinous secretion while the third is a ciliated cell. The ciliated cells also bear numerous microvilli and contain abundant microtubules and microfilaments. Neuronal contacts with the ciliated cells can be detected.

The secretion product of the gland is a loose association of acid mucopolysaccharide and glycoprotein and the cells secreting these two materials can be clearly identified. Those secreting acid mucopolysaccharide have been called acid mucin cells while those secreting glycoprotein have been called goblet cells because of their resemblance to intestinal goblet cells. The acid mucin cells are large and distended with an amorphous mass of electron luscent material. This material is strongly metachromatic in the light microscope when stained with toluidine blue. Newly secreted acid mucopolysaccharide is contained within membrane-bound vacuoles where it exhibits a whorl-like or lammelar form. This latter fine structure is lost as the vacuoles coalesce filling the cell. The goblet cells are smaller and contain discrete globular, membrane-bound, packets of electron dense material. These do not stain metachromatically. Both types of cell release their contents by rupture of the cell membrane at the epithelial surface.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Marine Biological Association of the United Kingdom 1973

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

REFERENCES

Attwood, H. L.Luff, A. R., Morin, W. A. & Sherman, R. G., 1971. Dense cored vesicles at neuromuscular synapses of arthropods and vertebrates. Experientia, 27, 816–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barrantes, F. J., 1970. The neuromuscular junction of a pulmonate mollusc. I. Ultrastructural study. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung und Mikroskopische Anatomie, 105, 205–12.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bernard, F., 1890. Recherches sur les organes palléaux des gastéropodes prosobranches. Annales des sciences naturelles, Zoologie, Paris, 9, 89404.Google Scholar
Boer, H. H., Douma, E. & Koksma, J. M. A., 1968. In: Studies in the Structure, Physiology and Ecology of Molluscs, Ed. V., Fretter, pp. 237–56. Symposia of the Zoological Society of London, 22. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Boquist, L., Falkmer, S. & Mehrotra, B. K., 1971. Ultrastructural search for homologues of pancreatic β-cells in the intestinal mucosa of the mollusc Buccinum undatum. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 17, 236–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brock, M. A. & Hay, R. J., 1971. Comparative ultrastructure of chick fibroblasts in vitro at early and late stages during their growth span. Journal of Ultrastructure Research, 36, 291311.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Davidson, J. K., Falkmer, S., Mehrotra, B. K. & Wilson, S., 1971. Insulin assays and light microscopical studies of digestive organs in Protostomian and Deuterostomian species and in Coelenterates. General and Comparative Endocrinology, 17, 388401.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fawcett, D. W., 1966. An Atlas of Fine Structure. The Cell. Its Organelles and Inclusions, viii, 448. Philadelphia and London: W. B. Saunders Co.Google Scholar
Freeman, J. A., 1966. Goblet cell fine structure. Anatomical Record, 154, 121–48.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fretter, V. & Graham, A., 1962. British Prosobranch Molluscs: their Functional Anatomy and Ecology. London: Ray Society.Google Scholar
Gab, M., 1951. Donénes histologiques sur les organes due complex palléal chez la Fissurelle. Bulletin du Laboratoire maritime de Dinard, 35, 114.Google Scholar
Gibbons, I. R., 1961. The relationship between the fine structure and direction of beat in gill cilia of a lamellibranch mollusc. Journal of biophysical and biochemical Cytology, 11, 179205.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gilula, N. B. & Satir, P., 1971. Septate and gap junctions in molluscan gill epithelium. Journal of Cell Biology, 51, 869–72.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Goldberg, B. & Green, H., 1964. An analysis of collagen secretion by established mouse fibroblast lines. Journal of Cell Biology, 22, 227–58.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Gottschalk, A., 1966. Glycoproteins. Amsterdam: Elsevier.Google Scholar
Henrikson, R. C. & Matoltsy, A. G., 1968. The fine structure of teleost epidermis. II. Mucous cells. Journal of Ultrastructure Research, 21, 213–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, S., 1967. Secretion of mucopolysaccharide in the whelk Buccinum undatum L. Nature, London, 214, 395–6.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S., 1970. Polysaccharide-Protein Complexes in Invertebrates. London: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Hunt, S., 1972. The fine structure of the smooth muscle in the hypobranchial gland of the gastropod Buccinum undatum L. Tissue and Cell, (in the Press).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hunt, S. & Jevons, F. R., 1963. Characterization of the hypobranchial mucin of the whelk Buccinum undatum L. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 78, 376–8.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S. & Jevons, F. R., 1965 a. The hypobranchial mucin of the whelk Buccinum undatum L. Properties of the mucin and of the glycoprotein component. Biochemical Journal, 97, 701–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S. & Jevons, F. R., 1965 b. The polysaccharide sulphate-peptide complex in the hypobranchial mucin of Buccinum undatum L. Biochimica et Biophysica Acta, 101, 214–16.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S. & Jevons, F. R., 1966. The hypobranchial mucin of the whelk Buccinum undatum L. The Polysaccharide sulphate component. Biochemical Journal, 98, 522–9.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Hunt, S. & Rudall, K. M., 1967. Confirmation of a cellulose-like structure for the glucan sulphate of Buccinum undatum L. Carbohydrate Research, 4, 259–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyman, L. H., 1967. The Invertebrates. Mollusca I, vi, 792. New York: McGraw-Hill.Google Scholar
Lane, N. J., 1968. Lipochondria, Neutral red granules and lyosomes: Synonomous terms? In: Cell Structure and its Interpretation, eds. McGee-Russell, S. M. & Ross, K. F. A., 169–82. London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Locke, M. & Collins, J. V., 1965. The structure and formation of protein granules in the fat body of an insect. Journal of Cell Biology, 26, 857–84.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Norrevang, A., 1965. On the mucous secretion from the proboscis in Harrimania kupfferi (Enteropneusta). Annals of the New York Academy of Science, 118, 1052–69.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Porter, K. R. & Bonneville, M. A., 1968 Fine Structure of Cells and Tissues. Philadelphia: Lea and Febiger.Google Scholar
Ronkin, R. R., 1952. Cytological studies on mucus formation and secretion in Busycon. Biological Bulletin, Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, Mass. 102, 252–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sandborn, E. B., 1970. Cells and Tissues by Light and Electron Microscopy, 1. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Satir, P., 1965. Studies on cilia. II. Examination of the distal region of the ciliary shaft and the role of the filaments in motility. Journal of Cell Biology, 26, 805–34.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Satir, P. & Gilula, N. B., 1970. The cell junction in a lamellibranch gill ciliated epithelium. Localization of pyroantimonate precipitate. Journal of Cell Biology, 47, 468–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tarao, S., 1935. Microscopical study on the hypobranchial gland of Haliotis japonica Reeve with a note on the restitution of secretion. Journal of the Faculty of Science, Hokkaido University, Japan, Ser. VI, Zoology, 4, 103–14.Google Scholar
Tsuji, T., 1968 a. Studies on the mechanism of shell and pearl formation. X. The submicroscopic structure of the epithelial cells on the mantle of pearl oyster, Pteria (Pinctacla) martensii (Dunker). Report of the Faculty of Fisheries of the Prefectural University of Mie, Japan, 6, 4157.Google Scholar
Tsuji, T., 1968 b. Studies on the mechanism of shell and pearl formation. XI. The submicroscopical observation on the mechanism of formation of abnormal pearls and abnormal shell. Report of the Faculty of Fisheries of the Prefectural University of Mie, Japan, 6, 5966.Google Scholar