An ultrastructural investigation of muscle attachment in the opercular filament of a polychaete annelid |
| |
Authors: | A Bubel |
| |
Affiliation: | Portsmouth Polytechnic, The Marine Laboratory, Ferry Road, Hayling Island, Hants. PO11 0DG England |
| |
Abstract: | The ultrastructure of peduncle muscle attachment to the cuticular flange in the opercular filament of the serpulid Pomatoceros lamarckii Quatrefages is described. The cuticular flange is composed of layers of orthogonally arranged fibres. Specialized epithelial cells (tendon cells) and a collagenous matrix intervene between the peduncle muscles and the cuticular flange. The tendon cells are characterized by hemidesmosomes at both apical and basal ends, connected by thick bundles of tonofilaments. Apically long specialized microvilli from the tendon cells penetrate the cavities in the orthogonally arranged layers of fibres of the cuticular flange. The basal surfaces of the tendon cells and the terminal ends of the peduncle muscles anchor independently of one another in the collagenous matrix. The peduncle muscles appear to be smooth muscles which contain thin filaments, 5 nm in diameter, and thick filaments, 40-100 nm in diameter, with a faint axial periodicity 12-14 nm. The method of peduncle muscle attachment in the opercular filament is compared with those of other invertebrates. |
| |
Keywords: | Cuticular flange myo-tendon zone peduncle muscles tendon cells |
本文献已被 ScienceDirect PubMed 等数据库收录! |
|