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The structure of elastic cartilage in the external ear of the rat was investigated by transmission and scanning electron microscopy. The narrow subperichondrial, boundary zone contains predominantly ovoid cells rich in cell organelles: mitochondria, Golgi complex, granular endoplasmic reticulum and small (40--100 nm) vesicles. Scarce glycogen granules and bundles of 6--7 nm cytoplasmic filaments are also present. Deeper in the boundary zone, one or more cytoplasmic lipid droplets appear and cytofilaments become more abundant. Fully differentiated chondrocytes in the central zone of the cartilage plate resemble white adipose cells. They are globular and contain a single, large cytoplasmic lipid droplet. The cytoplasm is reduced to a thin peripheral rim; it contains a flattened nucleus, few cytoplasmic organelles and abundant, densely packed, cytoplasmic filaments. The intercellular matrix is very sparse. The pericellular ring consists of collagen fibrils about 20 nm in diameter and a proteoglycan cartilage matrix in the form of a "stellate reticulum". The complex of these two structures appears in the scanning electron micrographs as a a network of randomly oriented, ca 100 nm thick fibrils. Spaces between pericellular rings of matrix also contain thick elastic fibers or plates, apparently devoid of microfibrils. In scanning electron micrographs elastic fibers could be detected only in a few areas, in which they were not obscured by other constituents of the matrix. Immature forms of elastic fibers, oxytalan (pre-elastic) and elaunin fibers, were found in the perichondrial and boundary zones.

The origin of the notochord in the rat tail was investigated on transverse serial semi-thin and ultra-thin sections of 12- and 13-day embryo tails. It was found that the notochord develops from a mass of condensed mesenchymal cells which is located ventrally to the secondary neural tube, and which subsequently splits into a) a thin cord which becomes notochord and b) a thick portion which gives rise to the tail gut. By analogy with the secondary neurulation and the secondary gut formation, one might therefore speak of a secondary notochord formation in the tail. It occurs in close relationship with the formation of the tail gut.

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The secondary body formation is a developmental mechanism occurring in the caudal part of the embryo in which embryonic structures arise from a mass of mesenchymal cells without previous formation of germ layers. The formation of the tail gut by this mechanism was investigated on transverse serial semithin and ultrathin sections of 12-, 13-, 14- and 15-day rat embryo tails. The tail gut, together with the tail portion of the notochord, originates from an axial mass of condensed mesenchymal cells named tail cord. Formation of the tail gut involves the appearance of large intercellular junctions among tail cord cells, and rearrangement of these cells around a newly formed lumen. Mesenchymal characteristics of these cells are gradually lost, and they simultaneously acquire the morphology of epithelial cells. Some cells of the tail cord, located ventral to the tail gut, do not participate in the tail gut formation and form a separate mass of cells without any definitive morphogenetic fate. This surplus group of cells is first evident in 12-day embryos, and it increases in mass during the following 3 days. In 15-day embryos, after the tail gut has completely disappeared, the surplus cells represent all that remains of the tail cord. The mesenchymal-epithelial transformation of the tail cord cells into the cells of the tail gut, and the appearance of the surplus cells, could be considered as the main morphological arguments for the secondary formation of the tail gut.