Distribution of glial fibrillary acidic protein-immunopositive structures in the developing brain of the turtle Mauremys leprosa

Abstract

 This study is a continuation of the description of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-immunopositive structures in the adult turtle brain (Kálmán et al. 1994) and presents a comprehensive description of the development of these structures from the 20th embryonic day (E20) to the adult age. GFAP-immunopositive elements were first detected at E28 and by E34 the GFAP-immunopositivity was apparent throughout the brain, except the cerebellum. The appearance of GFAP seemed to be related to the end of cell migration and the formation of the thickened parts of the brain wall, such as the dorsal ventricular ridge. After hatching the pattern of the GFAP-immunopositivity differed from that in the adult only in minute details, except for the brain tracts in which GFAP-pattern was still changing due to myelination, and the molecular layer of the cerebellum in which a transverse fiber system appeared. The GFAP-positive elements belonged originally to the ependymoglia, but later the distortion due to the morphogenetic processes of branching and division changed the pattern almost beyond recognition. In some cases cell bodies – ependymal and non-ependymal – appeared to be GFAP-positive, but no astrocytes (i.e., stellate cells) were detected. The results are discussed in the light of previous observations on developing mammalian, avian and lizard brains.