Histomorphology of Vomeronasal Organ in Scincella tsinlingensis

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.

Wnt1 and Wnt2b Immunodetection of the Regenerating Tail and Comparative Ultrastructure of Tail Spinal Cord in the Scincella tsinlingensis

“…After rinsed in 0.1M PBS (PH 7.4), all samples were post-fixed in 1 % osmium tetroxide for 1h, dehydrated in a graded series of acetone, embedded in Epon 812 epoxy resin, cut into ultrathin sections, and double stained with uranyl acetate-lead citrate. In the end, these sections were observed with H-760 transmission electron microscope (Hitachi, Tokyo) and photographed at 80 kV (Yang et al, 2020). Immunolabeling for Wnt2b was mainly distributed in the dermis near the original tail stump and spinal cord (Figs.…”

Histology and Immunocytochemical Localization of Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein in the Inner Ear of Scincella tsinlingensis

“…As an endemic species in China, the ovoviviparous Scincella tsinlingensis belongs to the Scincidae family. Recent study on smooth skink not only includes phylogenetics, histomorphology of excretory system and digestive system (Yang & Wang, 2016), microstructures and ultrastructures of vomeronasal organ (Yang et al, 2020a), but also involves the cytoarchitecture and adult neurogenesis in telencephalon (Yang et al, 2017(Yang et al, , 2020b.The effect of α-asarone on cell proliferation during the stage of blastema formation in tail regeneration has been researched by immunohistochemistry (Zhao et al, 2020).The expression of GFAP in retina of S. tsinlingensis is related to age, which may be involved in the regulation of physiological functions during the development of retina (Gao et al, 2018). However, there are no detailed descriptions of microstructure of inner ear in S. tsinlingensis.…”