• Applied Microscopy
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.1-14
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• 1993

The present study was carried out to analyze the evidence of membrane recycling, and the regulation of cellular transport by dynamic changes in apical membrane area that functionally interacts with the number of cytoplasmic vesicles. Under scanning electron micrographs, turtle bladder mucosa contain three main type of cells; granular cells and carbonic anhydrase (CA)-rich cells, deviding into a and b type of epithelial cell. The granular cell is the majority cell type of the mucosa comprising 80% of the total cell number. The remaining 20% of the cells are characteristically rich in carbonic anhydrase. Uptake of HRP was detected in the most vacuoles or tubulovesicles in both type of CA-rich cells in the turtle bladder, indicating that the part of plasma membrane was internalized in the apical cytoplasmic vacuoles. It seems quite likely that CA-rich cells possess intracellular vesicles carrying proton pumps which are recycling back to the apical plasma membrane. In turtle bladder, the granular cells actively secrete large quantities of mucin and other proteins by an exocytotic mechanism in an apparently constitutive fashion. The possibility that bladder epithelial cells secrete mucin via a regulated secretory pathway has not been rigorously examined and much is still to be determined about these issues from this cell type.

• Journal of Life Science
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• v.21 no.1
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• pp.102-109
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• 2011

The genioglossus muscle plays an important role in maintaining upper airway patency during inspiration; if this muscle does not contract normally, breathing disorders occur due to closing of the upper airway. These occur because of disorders of synaptic input to the genioglossus motoneurons, however, little is known about it. In this study, the distribution of GABA-, glycine-, and glutamate-like immunoreactivity in axon terminals on dendrites of the rat genioglossus motoneurons, stained intracellularly with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), was examined by using postembedding immunogold histochemistry in serial ultrathin sections. The motoneurons were divided into four compartments: the soma, and primary (Pd), intermediate (Id), and distal dendrites (Dd). Quantitative analysis of 157, 188, 181, and 96 boutons synapsing on 3 soma, 14 Pd, 35 Id, and 28 Dd, respectively, was performed. 71.9% of the total number of studied boutons had immunoreactivity for at least one of the three amino acids. 32.8% of the total number of studied boutons were immunopositive for GABA and/or glycine and 39.1% for glutamate. Among the former, 14.2% showed glycine immunoreactivity only and 13.3% were immunoreactive to both glycine and GABA. The remainder (5.3%) showed immunoreactivity for GABA only. Most boutons immunoreactive to inhibitory amino acids contained a mixture of flattened, oval, and round synaptic vesicles. Most boutons immunoreactive to excitatory amino acids contained clear and spherical synaptic vesicles with a few dense-cored vesicles. When comparisons of the inhibitory and excitatory boutons were made between the soma and three dendritic segments, the proportion of the inhibitory to the excitatory boutons was high in the Dd (23.9% vs. 43.8%) but somewhat low in the soma (35.7% vs. 38.2%), Pd (34.6% vs. 37.8%) and Id (33.1% vs. 38.7%). The percentage of synaptic covering of the inhibitory synaptic boutons decreased in the order of soma, Pd, Id, and Dd, but this trend was not applicable to the excitatory boutons. The present study provides possible evidence that the spatial distribution patterns of inhibitory and excitatory synapses are different in the soma and dendritic tree of the rat genioglussus motoneurons.