No abstract

In Typhlonectes compressicaudus the female genital ducts consist of an oviduct and a uterus. A longitudinal groove runs parallel to the oviduct, instead of a funnel. It's only during the second year after birth that modifications in genital ducts prepare the reproductive cycle. In female adults, funnel and oviduct are provided with cilia as early as October. Glands are developing at the level of the oviduct in which we observe 3 types of cells. After the ovulation (at the end of April), these structures set in rest again. From October to December we observe the development of the uterine wall in which are found also three types of cells, provided with cilia or glandular secretions. In pregnant females, this uterine wall undergoes modifications which are linked to the stages of the embryo's development. From July to October (after parturition) the uterus set in rest again; it's the same for the females without ovulation. Structural modifications of the female genital ducts are linked to the evolution and biennial cycle of the ovary at the level of which we detect steroidogenic activity.

Since several years nanoparticles (NPs) are produced by industries and used in several fields of activities. They are finally found in aquatic and terrestrial environments, where they are ingested by living organisms in which they accumulate, before being eliminated. In organisms, NPs represent foreign elements with their own physicochemical properties due to their small size. So NPs may interfere with the normal physiological mechanisms of the embryos, growing animals, and adults, and it is indispensable to understand their potentially direct or indirect harmful effects on living organisms. It has been already shown that NPs could be toxic to bacteria, algae, invertebrates, and vertebrates. In this review, several examples of recent studies are given. We will examine successively the effects of NPs on terrestrial and semiaquatic and aquatic vertebrate and invertebrate animals.