scholarly journals THE FINE STRUCTURE OF THE TRANSITIONAL EPITHELIUM OF RAT URETER

1965 ◽  
Vol 26 (1) ◽  
pp. 25-48 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Basement Membrane ◽  
Transitional Epithelium ◽  
Permeability Barrier ◽  
Basal Cells ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Squamous Cells ◽  
Intermediate Cells ◽  
Nucleoside Triphosphatase

The fine structure of the transitional epithelium of rat ureter has been studied in thin sections with the electron microscope, including some stained cytochemically to show nucleoside triphosphatase activity. The epithelium is three to four cells deep with cuboidal or columnar basal cells, intermediate cells, and superficial squamous cells. The basal cells are attached by half desmosomes, or attachment plates, on their basal membranes to a basement membrane which separates the epithelium from the lamina propria. Fine extracellular fibres, ca. 100 A in diameter, are to be found in the connective tissue layer immediately below the basement membrane of this epithelium. The plasma membranes of the basal and intermediate cells and the lateral and basal membranes of the squamous cells are deeply interdigitated, and nucleoside triphosphatase activity is associated with them. All the cells have a dense feltwork of tonofilaments which ramify throughout the cytoplasm. The existence of junctional complexes, comprising a zonula occludens, zonula adhaerens, and macula adhaerens or desmosome, between the lateral borders of the squamous cells is reported. It is suggested that this complex is the major obstacle to the free flow of water from the extracellular spaces into the hypertonic urine. The free luminal surface of the squamous cells and many cytoplasmic vesicles in these cells are bounded by an unusually thick plasma membrane. The three leaflets of this unit membrane are asymmetric, with the outer one about twice as thick as the innermost one. The vesicles and the plasma membrane maintain angular conformations which suggest the membrane to be unusually rigid. No nucleoside triphosphatase activity is associated with this membrane. Arguments are presented to support a suggestion that this thick plasma membrane is the morphological site of a passive permeability barrier to water flow across the cells, and that keratin may be included in the membrane structure. The possible origin of the thick plasma membrane in the Golgi complex is discussed. Bodies with heterogeneous contents, including characteristic hexagonally packed stacks of thick membranes, are described. It is suggested that these are "disposal units" for old or surplus thick membrane. A cell type is described, which forms only 0.1 to 0.5 per cent of the total cell population and contains bundles of tubular fibres or crystallites. Their origin and function are not known.

The fine structure of Sphaerotilus nutans

1973 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 309-313 ◽  
Author(s):  
Judith F. M. Hoeniger ◽  
H.-D. Tauschel ◽  
J. L. Stokes
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Lateral Position ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Liquid Cultures ◽  
Sphaerotilus Natans ◽  
Stationary Liquid ◽  
Basal Disk ◽  
Polar Organelle

Sphaerotilus natans developed sheathed filaments in stationary liquid cultures and motile swarm cells in shaken ones. Electron microscopy of negatively stained preparations and thin sections showed that the sheath consists of fibrils. When the filaments were grown in broth with glucose added, the sheath was much thicker and the cells were packed with granules of poly-β-hydroxybutyrate.Swarm cells possess a subpolar tuft of 10 to 30 flagella and a polar organelle which is usually inserted in a lateral position and believed to be ribbon-shaped. The polar organelle consists of an inner layer joined by spokes to an accentuated plasma membrane. The flagellar hook terminates in a basal disk, consisting of two rings, which is connected by a central rod to a second basal disk.

scholarly journals THE FINE STRUCTURE OF THE MID-BODY OF THE RAT ERYTHROBLAST

1962 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 109-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert C. Buck ◽  
James M. Tisdale
Keyword(s):  
Bone Marrow ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Cleavage Furrow ◽  
Intercellular Bridge ◽  
Spindle Fiber ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Rat Bone ◽  
Spindle Fibers

The development of the mid-body has been studied in mitotic erythroblasts of the rat bone marrow by means of thin sections examined with the electron microscope. A differentiated region on the continuous spindle fibers, consisting of a localized increase in density, is observed at the equatorial plane. The mid-body seems to develop by the aggregation of such denser lengths of spindle fiber. Its appearance precedes that of the cleavage furrow. A plate-like arrangement of fibrillary material lies transversely across the telophase intercellular bridge. Later, this material becomes amorphous and assumes the form of a dense ring closely applied to a ridge in the plasma membrane encircling the middle of the bridge. Although the mid-body forms in association with the spindle fibers, it is a structurally distinct part, and the changes which it undergoes are not shared by the rest of the bundle of continuous fibers.

scholarly journals THE FINE STRUCTURE OF CORTICAL COMPONENTS OF PARAMECIUM MULTIMICRONUCLEATUM

1955 ◽  
Vol 1 (6) ◽  
pp. 583-604 ◽  
Author(s):  
Albert W. Sedar ◽  
Keith R. Porter
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Basal Body ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Cell Types ◽  
The Body ◽  
Fiber System ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Ciliary Membrane ◽  
The Matrix

The electron microscope was used to study the structure and three dimensional relationships of the components of the body cortex in thin sections of Paramecium multimicronucleatum. Micrographs of sections show that the cortex is covered externally by two closely apposed membranes (together ∼250 A thick) constituting the pellicle. Beneath the pellicle the surface of the animal is molded into ridges that form a polygonal ridgework with depressed centers. It is these ridges that give the surface of the organism its characteristic configuration and correspond to the outer fibrillar system of the light microscope image. The outer ends of the trichocysts with their hood-shaped caps are located in the centers of the anterior and posterior ridges of each polygon. The cilia extend singly from the depressed centers of the surface polygons. Each cilium shows two axial filaments with 9 peripheral and parallel filaments embedded in a matrix and the whole surrouned by a thin ciliary membrane. The 9 peripheral filaments are double and these are evenly spaced in a circle around the central pair. The ciliary membrane is continuous with the outer member of the pellicular membrane, whereas the plasma membrane is continuous with the inner member of the pellicular membrane. At the level of the plasma membrane the proximal end of the cilium is continuous with its tube-shaped basal body or kinetosome. The peripheral filaments of the cilium, together with the material of cortical matrix which tends to condense around them, form the sheath of the basal body. The kinetodesma connecting the ciliary kinetosomes (inner fibrillar system of the light microscopist) is composed of a number of discrete fibrils which overlap in a shingle-like fashion. Each striated kinetosomal fibril originates from a ciliary kinetosome and runs parallel to other kinetosomal fibrils arising from posterior kinetosomes of a particular meridional array. Sections at the level of the ciliary kinetosomes reveal an additional fiber system, the infraciliary lattice system, which is separate and distinct from the kinetodesmal system. This system consists of a fibrous network of irregular polygons and runs roughly parallel to the surface of the animal. Mitochondria have a fine structure similar in general features to that described for a number of mammalian cell types, but different in certain details. The structures corresponding to cristae mitochondriales appear as finger-like projections or microvilli extending into the matrix of the organelle from the inner membrane of the paired mitochondrial membrane. The cortical cytoplasm contains also a particulate component and a system of vesicles respectively comparable to the nucleoprotein particles and to the endoplasmic reticulum described in various metazoan cell types. An accessory kinetosome has been observed in oblique sections of a number of non-dividing specimens slightly removed from the ciliary kinetosome and on the same meridional line as the cilia and trichocysts. Its position corresponds to the location of the kinetosome of the newly formed cilium in animals selected as being in the approaching fission stage of the life cycle.

Options for histological study of the structure and ultrastructure of human urinary bladder epithelium

Biologia ◽  
2012 ◽  
Vol 67 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Štefan Polák ◽  
Stanislav Žiaran ◽  
Jana Mištinová ◽  
Katarína Bevízová ◽  
Ľuboš Danišovič ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Urinary Bladder ◽  
Basement Membrane ◽  
Bladder Epithelium ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Human Urinary Bladder ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Intermediate Cells ◽  
Umbrella Cells

AbstractThe urothelium lines all urinary passages, with exception of the distal portions of the urethra. For the first time the structure of the human bladder was described by Leonardo Da Vinci in 15th century, however, the exact ultrastructure and function of the bladder’s epithelium have not been fully understood. The aim of our study was to investigate the structure of normal human urinary bladder epithelium with methods of classical histology, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). We obtained biopsies from non-tumor areas from the human urinary bladder of tumor-bearing patients during transurethral resections of these tumours in general or spinal anaesthesia. Totally we investigated biopsies from 20 patients, 16 males and 4 females. The mean age of this group of patients was averaged 66.5 years. The urothelium is comprised of three cell types including polyhedral basal cells, piriform intermediate cells, and superficial umbrella cells. In human urinary bladder epithelium we found a direct connection between intermediate cells and the basement membrane. These thin cytoplasmic projections are detectable not only on slides for light microscopy (semi-thin sections), but also in transmission electron-micrographs. In semi-thin sections we found also direct connections between superficial umbrella cells and basement membrane. These connections we were not able to verify via transmission electron-microscopy. Nevertheless our results show that the human urinary bladder urothelium is a special type of pseudostratified epithelium and each cell has a thin cytoplasmic projection with a direct contact with basement membrane.

scholarly journals The Fine Structure of Streptomyces coelicolor

1960 ◽  
Vol 7 (3) ◽  
pp. 479-487 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey M. Glauert ◽  
David A. Hopwood
Keyword(s):  
Endoplasmic Reticulum ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Streptomyces Coelicolor ◽  
Nuclear Material ◽  
Tubular Structures ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Cytoplasmic Structure ◽  
Intracytoplasmic Membranes ◽  
Membranous Component

Colonies and spore suspensions of Streptomyces coelicolor were fixed by the method of Kellenberger, Ryter, and Séchaud (1958) and embedded in methacrylate or araldite. Thin sections were cut with an A. F. Huxley microtome and examined in a Siemens' Elmiskop I. At all stages of development the hyphae of Streptomyces coelicolor have an extensive membranous component in the cytoplasm. The membranes are continuous with the plasma membrane and have a variety of configurations at different places in the hyphae. Tubular structures, vesicles, and parallel stacks of membranes are seen. In some areas concentric layers of membranes form whorled structures which are particularly frequent in the region of developing cross-walls and within maturing spores. In the spores membranous structures often lie embedded in the nuclear material. In disintegrating hyphae the intracytoplasmic membranes round off into small vesicles and remain when the rest of the cytoplasmic structure has gone. In the absence of typical mitochondria and other cytoplasmic membranous structures it is possible that the membranous component of the cytoplasm of Streptomyces coelicolor may perform the functions of the endoplasmic reticulum and/or the mitochondria of higher cells.

scholarly journals The Fine Structure of a Multiterminal Innervation of an Insect Muscle

1959 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-244 ◽  
Author(s):  
George A. Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Endoplasmic Reticulum ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Electron Microscope ◽  
Basement Membrane ◽  
Neuromuscular Junctions ◽  
Abdominal Muscle ◽  
Membrane Material ◽  
Detailed Structure ◽  
Insect Muscle

The detailed structure of nerve branches, neuromuscular junctions, and muscle fibers of a multiterminal innervation of cockroach abdominal muscle has been studied with the electron microscope. The muscle fiber is of the banded myofibril type; with paired mitochondria and abundant endoplasmic reticulum. The peripheral nerve branches are multiaxonal with large central axon and several small peripheral tunicated axons. Tracheoblasts closely accompany the nerve branches. The multiple neuromuscular junctions show typical axonal vesicles, muscle aposynaptic granules, and close plasma membrane apposition with no interposition of basement membrane material.

scholarly journals CHROMATOPHORE DEVELOPMENT, PITS, AND OTHER FINE STRUCTURE IN THE RED ALGA, LOMENTARIA BAILEYANA (HARV.) FARLOW

1962 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 553-569 ◽  
Author(s):  
G. Benjamin Bouck
Keyword(s):  
Endoplasmic Reticulum ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Higher Plants ◽  
Red Alga ◽  
Cellular Structures ◽  
Secretory Function ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Floridean Starch ◽  
Oriented Parallel

Thin sections of the red alga, Lomentaria baileyana, a tubular member of the Rhodymeniales, were examined after permanganate fixation and Araldite embedding. Many of the cellular structures in Lomentaria were found to be similar to analogous structures in animals and higher plants. However, in the walls between cells are modified areas generally known as pits which are unique to the higher orders of red algae (Florideae). In this study the pits were found to consist of a plug-like structure surrounded by an uninterrupted membrane apparently continuous with the plasma membrane. Examination of the chromatophore revealed a characteristic limiting membrane, a relatively sparse distribution of plates, no grana, and a single disc apparently oriented parallel to the limiting membrane. In addition to their origin from non-lamellate proplastids, chromatophores were found capable of division by simple constriction. Floridean starch grains were observed outside the chromatophore and the possibility of an association of the first formed grains with portions of the endoplasmic reticulum is considered. Gland cells seem to have a high proportion of Golgi components (dictyosomes), and are believed to have some kind of secretory function. Many of the Golgi vesicles seem to open on the wall and presumably discharge their contents.

scholarly journals THE FUNCTION OF THE GOLGI COMPLEX IN TRANSITIONAL EPITHELIUM

1966 ◽  
Vol 30 (3) ◽  
pp. 623-643 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. M. Hicks
Keyword(s):  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Acid Phosphatase ◽  
Cell Surface ◽  
Indirect Evidence ◽  
Free Cell ◽  
Transitional Epithelium ◽  
Multivesicular Bodies ◽  
Membrane Flow ◽  
Squamous Cells ◽  
Golgi System

The superficial squamous cells of rat transitional epithelium are limited, on their luminal face, by an asymmetrically thickened membrane. Patches of similar thick membrane are found in the walls of the Golgi cisternae and it is suggested that the Golgi system is the site of assembly of the thick plasma membrane. This implies membrane flow from the Golgi apparatus to the cell surface, and there is indirect evidence that the membrane is transported in the form of fusiform vacuoles, derived from the Golgi cisternae, which fuse with, and become part of, the free cell membrane. Uptake of injected Imferon shows that similar, large, thick-walled vacuoles may be formed by invagination of the free cell surface. Some of these vacuoles are subsequently transformed into multivesicular bodies and autophagic vacuoles. The formation of other large heterogeneous bodies is described, and some of these are shown to have acid phosphatase activity.

scholarly journals THE FINE STRUCTURE AND MODE OF ATTACHMENT OF THE SHEATHED FLAGELLUM OF VIBRIO METCHNIKOVII

1963 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 327-336 ◽  
Author(s):  
Audrey M. Glauert ◽  
D. Kerridge ◽  
R. W. Horne
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Cell Wall ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Fine Structure ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Basal Disc ◽  
The Core ◽  
Thin Sectioning ◽  
Potassium Phosphotungstate ◽  
Mode Of Attachment

The sheathed flagellum of Vibrio metchnikovii was chosen for a study of the attachment of the flagellum to the bacterial cell. Normal and autolysed organisms and isolated flagella were studied by electron microscopy using the techniques of thin sectioning and negative staining. The sheath of the flagellum has the same layered structure as the cell wall of the bacterium, and in favourable thin sections it appears that the sheath is a continuation of the cell wall. After autolysis the sheath is usually absent and the core of the flagellum has a diameter of 120 A. Electron micrographs of autolysed bacteria negatively stained with potassium phosphotungstate show that the core ends in a basal disc just inside the plasma membrane. The basal disc is about 350 A in diameter and is thus considerably smaller than the "basal granules" described previously by other workers.

scholarly journals An Electron Microscopic Study of the Intestinal Villus

1959 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 363-371 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sanford L. Palay ◽  
Leonard J. Karlin
Keyword(s):  
Smooth Muscle ◽  
Plasma Membrane ◽  
Epithelial Cell ◽  
Basement Membrane ◽  
Lamina Propria ◽  
Nerve Fibers ◽  
Apical Surface ◽  
Intestinal Villus ◽  
Thin Sections ◽  
Blood Capillaries

The structure of the intestinal villus of the rat was studied in thin sections of tissue fixed in buffered osmium tetroxide and embedded in methacrylate. The simple columnar epithelium investing the villus is surmounted by a striated border consisting of slender projections of the cell surface. These microvilli are arranged in almost crystalline, hexagonal array, and increase the apical surface area of the cell by a factor of 24. The core of each microvillus is filled with fine fibrils which arise from the filamentous substance of the terminal web underlying the striated border. Each microvillus is covered by a tubular extension of the plasma membrane of the epithelial cell. Pinocytotic vesicles originating from the plasma membrane occur at the bases of the intermicrovillous spaces. The nucleus, mitochondria, and the endoplasmic reticulum of the epithelial cell display no unusual features. Small bits of ergastoplasm occur in the apical cytoplasm. A thin basement membrane separates the epithelium from the lamina propria which consists of vessels, nerves, and numerous lymphocytes, eosinophiles, mast cells, plasma cells, smooth muscle fibers, and macrophages suspended in a delicate stroma of fibroblasts and collagen fibers. Intercellular fat droplets often occur in this stroma, even in animals fasted for 40 hours. The blood capillaries are distinguished by their extremely attenuated, fenestrated endothelial cells. The lacteal has a thicker endothelium which, although not fenestrated, appears to have significant interruptions, especially at the margins between neighboring lining cells. Strands of smooth muscle always accompany the lacteal but do not form an integral part of its wall. Unmyelinated nerves, many of which are too small to be distinguished with the light microscope, course through the lamina propria in association with the vessels. The nerve fibers evidently do not cross the basement membrane into the epithelium. Neuromuscular junctions or other terminal apparatus were not found.

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