OBSERVATIONS ON THE FINE STRUCTURE OF PHOTORECEPTOR CELLS IN THE PLANARIAN DUGESIA TIGRINA.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E K MACRAE.
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Pharyngeal muscle of the planarian Dugesia tigrina was studied by electron microscopy after osmium tetroxide fixation. The muscle cell was observed to contain one myofibril or bundle of myofilaments parallel to its longitudinal axis. The myofilaments were of two types, different in size and distribution. No Z lines or myofilament organization into cross or helical striations were seen. Dense bodies were seen as projections from an invagination of the plasma membrane and as dense lines parallel to the myofilaments. The muscle cells are surrounded by a plasma membrane which is structurally associated with dense body projections, with vesicles and cisternae of sarcoplasmic reticulum, and with synaptic nerve endings. The cell has sarcoplasmic projections perpendicular to its long axis; these projections are seen to contain the nucleus or mitochondria and granules. Mitochondria and granules are also seen in a sarcoplasm rim around the fibril. The dense bodies may serve as attachment for thin myofilaments and function in transmission of stimuli from plasma membrane to the interior of the fibril.
Two species of planarians were studied by fluorescence microscopy. Red fluorescence of uroporphyrin was observed localized in the epidermal rhabdites and subepidermal rhabdite-containing gland cells. Fluorescence was observed in isolated rhabdites of homogenates, but was not seen in rhabdites of the living animal. The identity of rhabdites was established by their location, shape, size, and acid-ophilic staining properties.
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