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Histological and ultrastructural reconstruction of ventral epidermal glands of Spio (Polychaeta, Spionidae, Annelida)

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Abstract

With present study, we confirm that the ventral structures on anterior and middle chaetigers of two species of Spio are special kind of intraepidermal multicellular glands. The general anatomy and coherence morphology of these ventral epidermal glands (VEGs) were 3D-reconstructed based on semithin section series. Specific anatomical characters were explored using electron microscopy, such as scanning electron microscopy for characterization of gland pores and transmission electron microscopy for investigation into cytoanatomical details. The VEGs are tubular or acinar; their pores are spherical or lens-shaped. The glands consist of three cell types: secretory cells, sheath cells and canal cells, forming and strengthening the short gland duct and the pore region. The secretory cells are tightly packed into a single-layered, curved glandular epithelium. Secretory cells are separated from each other by thin projections of interstitial sheath cells. The apices of the secretory and sheath cells surround a tubular or vase-shaped extracellular space, the reservoir. The reservoir is traversed by microvilli of the secretory and sheath cells. Two sorts of microvilli characterize the apex of secretory cells: slender, elongated ones located at the periphery (outer microvilli), and shorter but thicker ones, arranged in a distinct collar in the centre (inner microvilli). Secretion, encased in regular secretory granules and discharged only at the apex’ centre, is guided through the space enclosed by the collar of inner microvilli. Though also consisting of numerous cells, the VEGs of Spio spp. are not comparable to parapodial glands described in other spionid taxa since they remain in a strictly intraepidermal position, are distant from parapodia and contain sheath cells. Nonetheless, the VEGs are very helpful for taxonomic work on representatives of the genus Spio and closely related genera.

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Acknowledgments

Our electron microscopic studies were supported by Prof. Gabriele Uhl from University of Greifswald and PD Dr. Markus Franck and his technician team from the Electron Microscopic Centre of the University of Rostock (Germany). We are grateful for their permission to use their microtomes and transmission electron microscopes. CHGM moreover thanks Prof. Dr. Steffen Harzsch (University of Greifswald, Germany) for having funded standard EM laboratory equipment. We are grateful to Kerstin Schwandt (Rostock University), who did the laboratory work for histological studies, and to Katharina Huckstorf (Rostock University) for giving an introduction into IMARIS software. Sampling permissions were kindly provided by Sra. Margarita Mercadal Camps, chief executive officer of the Direcció General de Medi Rural i Mari (Govern de les Illes Balears, Palma de Mallorca, Spain). We thank two anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments that helped to improve quality of present manuscript.

Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical standard

All applicable international, national and/or institutional guidelines for the care and use of animals were followed. This article does not contain any studies with human participants performed by any of the authors. Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institut für Biowissenschaften, Allgemeine und Spezielle Zoologie, Universität Rostock, Universitätsplatz 2, 18051, Rostock, Germany

    Anton Rößger & Andreas Bick

  2. Deutsches Zentrum für Marine Biodiversitätsforschung (DZMB), Senckenberg am Meer, Biozentrum Grindel, Martin-Luther-King-Platz 3, 20146, Hamburg, Germany

    Karin Meißner

  3. Department of Neuroscience, University of Arizona, Strausfeld Lab, 1040 E 4th Street, Tucson, AZ, 85721, USA

    Carsten H. G. Müller

  4. Zoologisches Institut und Museum, Ernst-Moritz-Arndt-Universität Greifswald, Johann-Sebastian-Bach-Str. 11/12, 17487, Greifswald, Germany

    Carsten H. G. Müller

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  1. Anton Rößger
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  2. Karin Meißner
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Correspondence to Carsten H. G. Müller.

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Communicated by A. Schmidt-Rhaesa.

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Rößger, A., Meißner, K., Bick, A. et al. Histological and ultrastructural reconstruction of ventral epidermal glands of Spio (Polychaeta, Spionidae, Annelida). Zoomorphology 134, 367–382 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00435-015-0264-9

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