No abstract

Due to the great change in the morphology of squamate vomeronasal organ (VNO), the histomorphology characteristics of VNO in Scincella tsinlingensis were studied by light and electronic microscopy. The results indicated that the VNO of S. tsinlingensis was located at the base of nasal cavity and consisted of a mushroom body situated anteroventrally and a sensory epithelium (SE) situated dorsocaudally. SE was composed of supporting cells, receptor cells and basal cells, and the supporting cells contained secretory granules near the surface membrane. Most of receptor cells were irregular in shape with long cytoplasmic extensions and characterized by microtubules, vesicles, and mitochondria. The basal cells with long cytoplasmic extensions were also irregular in shape and appeared a greater electron density than others. The thick nerve bundles were found on the dorsomedial area of VNO, and the surface of mushroom body was non-sensory epithelium consisting of ciliated and basal cells, without goblet cells. Epithelial cells were arranged in irregular, with many cilia and microvilli distributed on its free surface. Cells on the basal layer were irregularly circular in shape and arranged sparsely. Taken together, the results indicated that the fine structure of VNO in S. tsinlingensis was similar to other species from scincomorphs.

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Spinal ganglia and peripheral nerves innervate the regenerating tail and muscles of lizards, which provide new opportunities to probe the mechanisms leading to successful functional recovery following spinal cord injury. The regenerated spinal cord and peripheral nerves were detected using immunohistochemistry in original and regenerating tails of Scincella tsinlingensis. Our results showed that positive PCNA, GFAP and SOX2 cells were observed in the ependymal ducts at 15 and 30 days after the autotomy (dpa), with a small number of immunopositive NSE neurons. GFAP and SOX2 positive cells were primarily localized along the regenerated spinal cord after 45 dpa, and the descending nerve of medulla tissue showed positive NSE. Peripheral axons distributed around the muscle and inside the connective tissue and muscle tissue at 15 dpa. The number of axons decreased after 30 dpa. The peripheral axons was mainly distributed between the connective tissue, muscle group and the muscle and epidermis, presenting a radial distribution centred on the cartilage tube at 120 dpa. MBP myelination labelling of the regenerated tail at 30 dpa revealed that the regenerated axons rapidly myelinated along the rostro‐caudal axis. The density of NMJ significantly increased at 120 dpa and 250 dpa. In the second regenerated tails, NMJ density at 250 dpa was still greater than original tails. Overall, these results indicated that neurogenesis was an early event and the ependymal cells were heterogeneous in the regenerated spinal cord of S. tsinlingensis. The regenerated peripheral axons presented a radial distribution centred on the cartilage canal, and the regenerated axons were rapidly myelinated along the rostro‐caudal axis. During the process of regeneration, there were a large number of regenerated neuromuscular joints with high density.

The microstructure of inner ear in Scincella tsinlingensis was observed by light microscopy and the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) in membranous labyrinth among the juvenile age group, subadult age group and adult age group were also detected by methods of immunohistochemistry. The inner ear in S. tsinlingensis resembled those in other Scincid lizards in their anatomy and histology. Large and elongate cochlear duct was slightly bowed or arched laterally. There was no hint of limbic modifications and the limbic lip was absent in cochlear recess. The basilar papilla elongated anteroventrally possessed specialized tectorial sallets. GFAP staining was significantly distributed in supporting cells of the sensory epithelia of cochlear duct, while the utricular macula and canal ampullae showed immunopositive for the GFAP antibody, with weaker staining in the saccular macula. The membranous inner ear of three different age groups revealed the similar pattern of GFAP expression, which suggested that the distribution of supporting cells were independent of age in S. tsinlingensis