Ultrastructure and lectin cytochemistry of the cloacal kingsbury's glands in the male newt Triturus marmoratus marmoratus

Abstract

The aim of this study was the morphological and histochemical characterization of Kingsbury's glands in the male newt Triturus marmoratus marmoratus in the pre-reproductive and post-reproductive period of the testicular cycle, using light and electron microscopy and lectin histochemistry. The Kingsbury's glands are a small group of tubular glands that surrounds the cloacal tube. In the pre-reproductive period, Kingsbury's glands showed a cuboidal epithelium that was partially surrounded by myoepithelial cells. Most of the cuboidal cells showed numerous secretion granules in their cytoplasm. About 1 of 23 epithelial cells were mitochondria-rich cells that contained abundant mitochondria instead of secretion granules. In the post-reproductive period, the glandular epithelium decreased in size and did not show the characteristic secretion granules, and the glandular lumen was very reduced. The mitochondria-rich cells underwent no changes in this period, whereas the myoepithelial cells became larger. The lectin pattern of secretory cells in the pre-reproductive period was the following: the nuclei appeared strongly labeled with WGA, ConA, and SBA lectins, and scarcely with UEA-I; the cytosol was exclusively labeled with LcA; the rough endoplasmic reticulum was labeled with ConA and LcA; the Golgi complex appeared labeled to PNA, HPA, and UEA-I; and the secretion granules labeled with all the lectins tested. Mitochondria-rich cells and myoepithelial cells showed labeling to SBA, WGA, and ConA lectins but only in their nuclei. In the post-reproductive period, the nuclei of the three cell types were labeled with WGA, ConA, and SBA. In addition, the cytosol of the secretory cells was labeled with LcA, and that of myoepithelial cells with ConA.

Analysis of the distribution of binding sites for the plant lectin Bandeiraea simplicifolia I‐isolectin B4 on primary sensory neurones in seven mammalian species

“…Consistent with this idea is the expression of different glycoconjugates by distinct functional classes of cells in the visual (Chan et al, 1999), respiratory (Kasper and Singh, 1995;BurkhardtHolm, 1997;Dorscheid et al, 1999), gustatory (Zeng et al, 1995), olfactory (Taniguchi et al, 1993;Shnayder-Shapiro et al, 1995;Nakajima et al, 1998;, gastrointestinal (Sato and Spicer, 1982;Falk et al, 1994;Ge et al, 1998;Gebhard and Gebert, 1999;Poorkhalkali et al, 1999), reproductive (Zhou et al, 1994;Arenas et al, 1998;Romo et al, 1999), and immune (Clark et al, 1995;Sharma et al, 1996;Foster et al, 1998) systems in a variety of mammalian species.…”

Ultrastructure and lectin cytochemistry of the cloacal pelvic glands in the male newtTriturus marmoratus marmoratus

“…Based on ultrastructural and morphological characteristics, it has been suggested that the urodele cloacal glands are homologous to some glands and ducts of the mammalian reproductive systems in mammals (Norris et al, 1989). In particular, the ventral glands of T. marmoratus have been compared with the bulbourethral glands, while the Kingsbury's glands show homologies with the epididymis (Romo et al, 1998). The present results suggest that pelvic glands of T. marmoratus are homologous to the prostate and seminal vesicles.…”