Paraquat dichloride has been used by farmers as a herbicide to kill the grass. On the other hand, paraquat dichloride is harmful if enters to the body, causing Parkinson's disease, since it is disrupting dopamine production in the substantia nigra pars compacta or dopamine pathways Nigro striatal pathway. The study was done to fi nd out the histological changes of catecholaminergic neurons and Nigro striatal pathway caused by paraquat dichloride treatment in Wistar rats as a model of Parkinson's disease.Twenty-two Wistar rats 3,5 months old were divided into 4 groups, 5 rats each. Group I (control group) were injected with aquabidest, while groups II, III, and IV were injected intraperitoneally with paraquat dichloride in aquabidest, with the dosage 5 , 10 and 15 mg/kg bw respectively. The rats were injected once per week for 6 weeks. Three days after the last injection, the rats were anesthetized using xylasin (2 mg/kg) and ketamine (20 mg/kg) intramuscularly, and then were intracardiac perfused using physiological saline as prerinse solution, followed by 10% buffered formalin solution as a fi xative. After animals were fi xed, the brains were removed and embedded in paraffi n block and cut in 12 μm thickness for immunohistochemistry staining using tyrosine hydroxylase antibody. The results of staining then were observed under light microscope and analyzed descriptively.The results showed that the catecholaminergic neurons were distributed in the substantia nigra pars compacta in all treatment groups, however, the cell density were found decreased only in group IV. Catecholaminergic neurons appear in the bipolar and multipolar form, while dopamine 'Nigro striatal pathway' was found exist in all treatment groups. From our study, histologycally the decreased of catecholaminergic neurons is only found in rats that received paraquat dichloride in dose 15 mg/kg bw for 6 weeks.

Abstract. Selan YN, Wihadmadyatami H, Haryanto A, Kusindarta DL. 2023. The tongue morphology of Pteropus vampyrus from Timor Island, Indonesia: New insights from scanning electron and light microscopic studies. Biodiversitas 24: 3512-3518. The large flying fox (Pteropus vampyrus Linnaeus, 1758) is a Southeast Asian megabat species includes with frugivorous bats. The tongue plays a pivotal role in taking, chewing, and swallowing food. The structure of the bat tongue hampers considerable variation, mainly in the papilla. Variations occur owing to the feeding habits, environment, and adaptation of bats to their environments. The aim of this study was to clarify the morphological structure of the tongue of P. vampyrus obtained from the island of Timor, East Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia, by using Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) and Light Microscopy(LM). This study included six adult bats regardless of sex. Macroscopically, the tongue of P. vampyrus consists of three parts: the apex, corpus, and radix. SEM and LM confirmed that the apex presents filiform papillae of several subtypes, including scale-like filiform, giant trifid, and small crown-like papillae. In addition, the apex features fungiform and transitional papillae between the giant trifid and small crown-like papillae. Furthermore, the corpus consists of filiform papillae (leaf-like filiform and large crown-like papillae) and fungiform papillae. The radix consists of filiform papillae (long conical, leaf-like filiform, and short conical papillae), fungiform papillae, and three V-shaped circumvallate papillae pointing to the larynx.