Summary
Solutions containing ferritin or thorotrast particles were microperfused through the ureteric duct of the hagfish. The markers were taken up by the epithelial cells by way of endocytosis and were transported in bulk in apical vesicles. Newly formed apical vesicles containing marker showed bristle coating on the cytoplasmic side of their limiting membrane. This coating appeared to be lost during the movement of vesicles deeper into the cytoplasm.
The findings indicate that the epithelial cells in the ureteric duct have capablity for extensive bulk uptake of macromolecules from the luminal fluid. The mechanisms involved in absorption appear to be similar to those in proximal convoluted tubules of mammals.
The apical dense tubules observed with some fixation techniques appear to represent collapsed endocytotic vesicles.
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The authors are indebted to Finn Walwig, Cand. real., Marine Biology Station, University of Oslo, Dröbak, Norway for kindly supplying the hagfishes used in this study. The technical assistance of Miss Signe Fjeldsenden and Miss Britt-Marie Pettersson is gratefully acknowledged.
This work has been supported by grants from the Karolinska Institutet Medical School, Stockholm, Sweden (“Therese och Johan Anderssons Minne”).
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Ericsson, J.L.E., Seljelid, R. Endocytosis in the ureteric duct epithelium of the hagfish (Myxine glutinosa L.). Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 90, 263–272 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00339433
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00339433