Quelques données ultrastructurales sur un myoépithélium: le pharynx d'un Bryozoaire

Résumé L'épithélium pharyngien d'Alcyonidium polyoum possède des cellules pourvues d'une très grande vacuole. L'incompressibilité du liquide vacuolaire permet un élargissement brusque de l'organe lors de la contraction du manchon musculaire strié qui enserre cette vacuole. Les fibres musculaires sont insérées sur le plasmalemme apical par des filaments unitifs. Le point d'attache est relié à la lame amorphe du cell-coat qui entoure les microvillosités par des fibrilles, réalisant probablement une liaison mécamique plus efficace. Le reticulum sarcoplasmique porte des ribosomes. Le cytoplasme apical renferme des vésicules de diverses catégories.

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Some ultrastructural data about a myoepithelium: The pharynx of a bryozoan

Summary Pharyngeal cells of Alcyonidium polyoum (Bryozoa) are provided with very large vacuoles. Each vacuole is enveloped by a thin layer of striated muscle, whose contraction enlarges the organ. Filaments join the muscular elements to the apical plasmalemma. This point of muscular insertion is connected by fibrils with the amorphic lamina of cell-coat which surrounds the microvilli. Ribosomes are often found on dyads. Various vesicles are located in the apical cytoplasm.

     

Cilia on bovine mammary epithelium: ultrastructural observations

Ultrastructural examination of bovine mammary tissues revealed the presence of 9+0 or primary cilia protruding from surfaces of alveolar epithelial and myoepithelial cells. Cilia of epithelial cells protruded approximately 1200 nm into lumina of alveoli and arose from a basal body centriole, the associated centriole of the diplosome, and an accessory rootlet system. Cilia on epithelial cells were more frequently observed than cilia on myoepithelial cells. Occasional cilia made contact with macrophages in the alveolar lumen. The structures were more commonly found in tissues from nonlactating cows, and most were observed in the ventral portion of the mammary gland.     

Ultrastructure of the coelomic lining in the podium of the starfish Stylasterias forreri

Summary Ultrastructural examination of the podium of the asteroid echinoderm Stylasterias forreri reveals that cells of the coelomic epithelium and cells of the retractor muscle are, in fact, components of a single epithelium. The basal lamina of this unified epithelium adjoins the connective tissue layer of the podium.The principal epithelial cells in the coelomic lining are the flagellated adluminal cells and the myofilament-bearing retractor cells. Adluminal cells interdigitate extensively with each other and form zonular intermediate and septate junctions at their apicolateral surfaces. The adluminal cells emit processes which extend between the underlying retractor cells and terminate on the basal lamina of the epithelium. Retractor cells exhibit unregistered arrays of thick and thin myofilaments. The periphery of the retractor cell is characteristically thrown into keel-like folds which interdigitate with the processes of neighboring cells. Specialized intermediate junctions bind the retractor cells to each other and anchor the retractor cells to the basal lamina of the epithelium. The retractor cells are not surrounded by external laminae or connective tissue envelopes.It is concluded that the coelomic lining in the podium of S. forreri is a bipartite epithelium and that the retractor cells of the podium are myoepithelial in nature. There are no detectable communicating (gap) junctions between the epithelial cells of the coelomic lining.This investigation was supported by general research funds from the Department of Anatomy of the University of Southern California (R.L.W.) and by Research Operating Grant A0484 from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (M.J.C.). Ms. Aileen Kuda and Mr. Steve Osborne provided technical assistance. A portion of this study was conducted at the Friday Harbor Laboratories of the University of Washington, and the authors gratefully acknowledge the cooperation and hospitality of the Director, Dr. A.O. Dennis Willows