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The ultrastructure of the marine gastrotrichTurbanella cornuta Remane (Macrodasyoidea) and its functional and phylogenetical importance

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Summary

The organization of marine gastrotrichs (Macrodasyoidea) is reviewed by ultrastructural analysis of one representative,Turbanella cornuta Remane, and the fine structure of tissues and cells is described.

Turbanella cornuta has a mono-layeredcellular epidermis rich withsensory hairs, epidermal bodies, isolatedepidermal glands, glandular adhesive organs belonging to a duo-gland type, andventral ciliated epidermal cells of the multiciliated type. The voluminous neuropil of thebrain consists of a circular commissure which sends out four anterior and posterior longitudinal headnerves. The posterior ones unite on each side to one single longitudinal nerve of the periphery which is occupied with single peripheral neurons and has thin commissures that make it anorthogon. The position and the structure of the neurons indicate their sensitive, associative, motoric, and neurosecretory functions. The different forms of synapses give first hints to neuronal connections within gastrotrichs. There is a big cellularglia around the brain commissure and a small cellular glia within the brain neurons. In between the cross-striated muscle fibrils of thepharyngeal wall there are also nerves and sensory hairs.

TheY-organ lies in the interior of the lateral body cavities, which are delimited by an outer musculature of the body wall and an inner musculature of the intestinal tract. In the pharyngeal region, theY-organ fills the body cavities completely and, in the intestinal region, it covers thegonads, which also lie in the lateral body cavities, dorsally. The testicles lie separately in front of the paired ovaries. Single states of oogenesis could be identified as oogonia, and young and old oocytes. There is a paired gland organ in front of the dorsomedian ovary which may produce a mucous cover for the egg.

Theintestinal tract is adapted to mechanical stress by a myoepithelium in the pharyngeal region, by various interdigitations, and by narrow intercellular gaps with hemidesmosomal adhesions to the basement membrane. The majority of the resorbing intestinal cells have a high seam of microvilli and contain various numbers of lysosomes. In addition, there are some secerning cells without microvilli, but with a centrically arranged ER and with big secretion granules in the dorsomedian sector.

The ultrastructure affirms a close correlation between the conditions of life in the interstitium and structural adaptations, such as may be observed in single structures of the body wall, the y-organ, the intestinal tract and, in some respect, even in the nervous system and in the formerly researched musculature and spermatohistogenesis. On the other hand, for the construction of the glandular adhesive organs, the nervous system, and the formerly investigated body cavities, a phylogenetical relevance is discussed. Thereafter, gastrotrichs have more primitive characters than the closely related nematodes.

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Abbreviations

a:

sensory hair cells

am:

ampoule

at:

outleading tube

b:

basement membrane

bb:

basal body

c:

cilium

cr:

rootlet of the cilium

cu:

cuticle

cw:

cell wall

d:

d-cells of the brain

de:

desmosomes

e:

e-cells of the brain

eb:

epidermal bodies

ee:

ripe egg in the dorsomedian ovary

ep:

epidermis

er:

endoplasmatic reticulum

ev:

ventral ciliated epidermal cells

f:

f-cells of the brain

fr:

fibrillar structure

g:

gland cell

ge:

germ epithelium

gl(1+2) :

small and big cellular glia of the br

go:

Golgi-apparatus

gp:

genital pore

h:

h-cells of the brain

hf:

lateral adhesive tubules

hfp:

posterior adhesive tubules

i:

intestine

il:

intestinal lumen

1:

lumen of the organ

li:

lipid granules

ly:

lysosomes

m:

mitochondrium

mb:

multivesicular body

mc:

circular musculature

mi:

microvilli

ml:

longitudinal musculature

mo:

mouth opening

mt:

microtubules

mpl:

longitudinal muscle fibers of the pharyngeal wall

mpr:

radial muscle fibers of the pharyngeal wall

n:

nucleus

nb:

brain neurons

nc:

brain commissure

nf:

nerve fibers

nl:

lateral headnerve

nm:

nuclear membrane

nn:

nucleolus

nv:

ventrolateral headnerve

nz:

peripheric neuron

ncp:

peripheric nerve commissure

nvp:

longitudinal peripheric nerve

o:

lateral ovary

oc:

oocyte

oo:

oogonium

ow:

wall cells of the ovary

p:

secretory pore

ph:

pharynx

po:

palpar organ

phb:

pharyngeal bulbs

phl:

pharyngeal lumen

phn:

nerve plexus of the pharynx wall

sa:

anterior sense organ

sg:

secretory granules

sh:

sensory hair cell

sp:

posterior sense organ

st:

supporting stick

su:

supporting cell

sv:

synaptic vesicles

sy:

synaptic gap

t:

testicles

tl:

testicular lumen

tw:

wall cells of the testicles and the vas deferens

v:

ventral

va:

vacuoles

vd:

vas deferens

vs:

vesicles

y:

y-organ

yc:

anterior commissure of the y-organ

z:

yolk granules

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  1. Institut für Anatomie der UniversitÄt, UniversitÄtsstr. 31, D-8400, Regensburg, Federal Republic of Germany

    Gertraud Teuchert

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Teuchert, G. The ultrastructure of the marine gastrotrichTurbanella cornuta Remane (Macrodasyoidea) and its functional and phylogenetical importance. Zoomorphologie 88, 189–246 (1977). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00995474

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