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Biomedical subjects

A S Tompa

Publications and source records attributed to A S Tompa.

5 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1979

pH and calcium concentration changes in a molluscan egg during development.

During development, the egg albumen of calcified land snail eggs becomes more and more acid, correlated directly with a constant rise in the calcium concentration of this albumen. It is suggested that the developing embryo releases some acid metabolite and the subsequent change in albumen pH aids in embryonic absorption of the CaCO3 (calcite) egg shell, used for making the embryonic body shell or skeleton (CaCO3 in the form of aragonite).

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Calcified arteries in a gastropod.

The anterior aorta and major arteries of the land pulmonate snail Anguispira alternata have large calcium deposits in their walls. These deposits occur inside spherule cells, which line the walls of these vessels. The calcium occurs as amorphous calcium carbonate, in the form of intracellular spherules having alternating layers of organic and inorganic material. The spherule cells appear to be degenerating connective tissue cells; they are characterized by large numbers of spherules and by a cytoplasm which is totally empty except for a nucleus, scattered glycogen particles and a few membrane remnants. The injection of 45Ca into the foot of the snail results in rapid incorporation of this calcium into the spherule cells. Although calcium-containing spherules are now known from a wide variety of invertebrate tissues, they have not been previously recorded from arterial walls. The physiologic significance of these deposits is not known.

Animals↗
PubMed1976

Ultrastructural investigation of the mechanism of muscle attachment to the gastropod shell.

The ultrastructure of the muscle-shell attachment was investigated in the land pulmonate snails Helix aspersa, Anguispira alternata, in the freshwater pulmonate Laevipex sp., and in the freshwater prosobranch Pomacea paludosa. In all cases, a collagenous intercellular matrix and a specialized epithelium (tendon cells) intervene between the columellar muscle and the shell. These tendon cells are characterized by hemidesmosomes at both apical and basal ends, connected by thick bundles of microfilaments. The tendon cells do not insert into the shell directly by microvilli, as formerly thought, but by an extensive network of extracellular organic fibers.

Animals↗