Ultrastructure of Endocrine Cells in the Midgut Epithelium of the Japanese Cockroach, Periplaneta japonica

집바퀴의 중장 상피조직내에 있는 내분비세포의 미세구조

The endocrine cells in the midgut epithelium of the Japanese cockroach, Periplaneta japonica were observed by the light and electron microscopy. The midgut epithelium of the last instar larva and adult cockroach consisted of principal columnar cells, regenerative cells, and secretory granular cells. Midgut endocrine cells were positioned basally as a cone-shaped single cell in the epithelium or underneath the regenerative crypt cells. When midgut epithelium grows and the cell composing it transforms, between the endocrine cells and regenerative cells were made desmosome type junction and large vesicular shaped stretches of loose contact. The endocrine cells were characterized by a clear cytoplasm with abundant Golgi complex and numerous secretory granules. The secretory granules in the cell were spherical and electron dense with their diameter of $200{\sim}400nm$. The secretory granules have been observed as discharged by exocytosis on the basal and lateral side of the cell.