The spermatogenesis of Siamese fighting fish, Betta splendens, belongs to Osphronemidae was investigated by light and electron microscopic observations. In primary spermatocyte stage, the nucleus was comparatively large ellipsoidal, and mitochondria showed a marked development in cytoplasm. In secondary spermatocyte stage, the germ cells were smaller than that of primary spermatocytes. The nucleus was a spherical shape and intercellular space was formed between germ cells. In spermatid stage, the early spermatids were not much different from a secondary spermatocyte. But, the chromatin condensation was occurred from the outside to the inside. The nucleus was more condensed. Intracellular space was larger than early spermatid. The mitochondria were rearranged in a middle piece, and occupied about half of the head part in early sperm. In sperm stage, the head of mature sperm was a spherical shape and had no acrosome. The flagellum was showed the typical 9+2 array of microtubules. Also, the tail of sperm had no lateral fins and outer coarse fibers. These ultrastructural characteristics can be used in classification of species.

The auditory system of the Korean greater horseshoe bat (Rhinolophus ferrumequinum korai, RFK) is adapted to its own echolocation signal, which consist of constant frequency (CF) element and frequency modulated (FM) element. In contrast, the Japanese long-fingered bat (Miniopterus schreibersii fuliginosus, MSF) emits FM signals. In the present study, the characteristics of stereocilia in RFK (a CF/FM bat) and MSF (a FM bat) were studied in the apical turn of the cochlea where the lower frequencies are transduced. Stereocilia lengths and numbers were quantitatively measured in RFK by scanning electron microscopy and compared with those of MSF. Each inner hair cells (IHCs) of RFK possessed three rows of stereocilia, whereas MSF possessed five rows of stereocilia. Gradients in stereocilia lengths and numbers of stereocilia of the IHCs of RFK were found to be less pronounced and fewer, respectively, than those of MSF. Each outer hair cells (OHCs) possessed three rows of stereocilia in both species. OHCs stereocilia in RFK that distinguished it from MSF were a shorter length and a greater number of stereocilia. These features suggest that the apical cochleas of RFK are adapted for the processing of higher frequency echolocation calls rather than that of MSF.

Cytokeratin 19 (CK19) expressed in epidermis of skin, bulge region of hair follicle, outermost layer of outer root sheath and proximal and distal to bulge. Vimentin is a fibrous protein that localized in cytoplasm of fibroblast and forms cytoskeleton to maintain shape of cell and nucleus. In this study, CK19 and vimentin in skin were confirmed with light, fluorescence and transmission electron microscope. As a result, CK19 was localized epidermis, hair follicles, outer root sheath and nucleus of Merkel's cell. However, vimentin was localized some epidermis, dermis, hypodermis and nucleus of Merkel's cell. The role of CK19 is self-renewal and homeostasis in skin. Also, hair follicle regeneration and hair growth is known to be related. It is supposed that required of structural proteins that make up cytoskeleton is increased. Thereby, expression of CK19 is increased. It is considered that vimentin localized in order to stabilize structure of cell and cytoskeleton of fibroblasts. Also, CK19 and vimentin present in nuclei of Merkel's cell, and to act as a fibrous protein that make up end of a nerve fiber present in Merkel's cell and paracrine function of Merkel's cell.

Retinal glial responses to hypertensive glaucomatous injury were spatiotemporally surveyed. Retinas as a whole or vertical sections were processed for anti-glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), anti-Iba1, anti-nerve growth factor (NGF), and anti-tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-${\alpha}$ immunohistochemistry for confocal microscopic analyses. The optic nerve head of paired controls was processed for electron microscopy. GFAP positive astrocytes appeared in the nerve fiber layer in the glaucomatous and control retinas, changing from fine protoplasmic to stout fibrous parallel to glaucomatous duration. Iba1 positive microglia appeared in both retinas, and enormous reaction appeared at the latest glaucomatous. M$\ddot{u}$ller reaction detected by GFAP reactivity expanded from the end feet to whole profile following to duration in the glaucomatous. NGF reactivity expended from the end feet to the proximal radial processes of the M$\ddot{u}$ller cells in both retinas according to glaucomatous duration. TNF-${\alpha}$ immunoreactivity in the nerve fiber layer was stronger in both the glaucomatous and controls than in the normal, and exceptionally at the latest glaucomatous was even lower than the normal. The astrocytes in the optic nerve head are interconnected with each other via gap junction. These results demonstrate that astrocyte reaction propagates to the contralateral via physical links, and TNF-${\alpha}$ is correlated with NGF production for neuroprotection in response to hypertensive glaucomatous injury.

Colloidal systems or colloids consist of microparticles or nanoparticles (solute) uniformly suspended in a liquid (solvent), also called colloidal suspensions. They can mimic and exhibit microscopic or atomic aspects of molecular and atomic systems. They have been increasingly studied because of their similarity with atomic systems. They can be microscopically observed by optical microscopes because they are large enough in size and slow in motion to be monitored; microscopic methods are very useful and powerful in research on colloidal systems. Recently, confocal laser microscopy has been known as a powerful tool to obtain information of real-space and real-time behaviors of colloidal suspensions. In particular, it is possible to exactly track individual colloids in three dimensions with confocal microscopy. In this article, we briefly discuss the usefulness of confocal microscopy in colloidal systems that are currently used as model systems to resolve important questions in materials science.

Electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) is widely used for quantitative microstructural analysis of the crystallographic nature of variety of materials such as metals, minerals, and ceramics. EBSD can provide a wide range of information on materials including grain size, grain orientation, texture, and phase identity. In the case of metallic alloys, EBSD now has become an essential technique to analyze the texture, particularly when severe deformation is applied to the alloys. In addition, EBSD can be one of the very useful tools in identification of twin, particularly in Mg alloys. In Mg alloys different type of twin can occur depending on the c/a ratio and stacking fault energy on the twinning plane. Such an occurrence of different type of twin can be most effectively analyzed using EBSD technique. In this article, the recent development of Mg alloys and occurrence of twin in Mg are reviewed. Then, recently published example for identification of tension and compression twins in AZ31 and ZX31 is introduced to explain how EBSD can be used for identification of twin in Mg.