The lateral-line organs of living amphibian larvae with special reference to orange colored granules of the sensory cells

✍ Scribed by Sullivan G. Bedell

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1939
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 765 KB
• Volume: 70
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0021-9967
• DOI: 10.1002/cne.900700205

✦ Synopsis

INTRODVCTION

Tlie present work is primarily a study of brightly colored orange granules within the sensory cells of the lateral-line organs of amphibian larvae which have been overlooked by previous investigators. Charipper ( '28)' in a histological study on fixed material of the lateral-line organ in Necturus maculosus, described small, refractile, periiiuclear granules in the sensory cells and pointed out the absence of any reference to them in the literature. Chezar ('30) and Dawson ('36) refer to similar granules in various Urodela. Their work has been done entirely on fixed material and on larger animals. The pigmentation arid promiiieiice of the graiiules in freshly caught amphibian larvae has been missed completely. The findings of piapented graiiules as a specific product of a sensory organ is especially interesting because of its possible relationship to pigmented substances produced by sensory organs in man, i.e., the visual purple of the retina and the yellow pigment of the olfactory mucosa. Should this relationship be proved in later studies, the amphibian larvae would be valuable for carrying out experimentation under direct vision. This study has been carried out under the direction of Dr. Carl Caskey Speidel 2nd was made possible by a Dupont-McIntyre fellowship in the Department of Xeurology and Psyclnatry. I am especially grateful t o Doctor Speidel for his patient and synipathetic guidance.