Title: The secretory activity of the proventriculus of Drosophila melanogaster
Abstract:FIQURES INTRODUOTIONThe proventriculus (cardia) of the larva of Drosophila melarzogaster is a pear-shaped region of the anterior midgut which secretes the peritrophic membrane.This membrane, a continu...FIQURES INTRODUOTIONThe proventriculus (cardia) of the larva of Drosophila melarzogaster is a pear-shaped region of the anterior midgut which secretes the peritrophic membrane.This membrane, a continuous lining of the midgut and hindgmt, encloses the food in the gut and is excreted in the form of a casing around the faeces.Structural details of the larval proventriculus of D. melarzogaster have been presented by Strasburger ('32).I n a study of the distribution of Golgi-material-andsecretion complexes in various epithelial cells of the midgut of D. melanogaster larvae (ebony mutant), Siang-Hsu ( '47) suggested that the anterior portion of the epithelial wall of the proventriculus secretes the material forming the peritrophic membrane.He found that cells in this region of the proventriculus contained Golgi bodies and secretory granules which were not present in the remaining cells of the proventriculus.During an examination of slides which had been stained by the periodic acid-Schiff reaction to study the polysaccharides of the larval cuticle of Drosoph,iZa willistoni (Rizki, '55), it was noted that the peritrophic membrane and a ring of epithelial cells of the proventriculus stained darker than theRead More