Summary
The epithelial cells lining the ureteric duct in the cyclostome, Myxine glutinosa, have a brush border and show specializations of their apical cytoplasm similar to those observed in absorptive proximal tubule cells in higher vertebrate species. These features and the presence of large and numerous cytosomes, presumed to contain lysosomal enzymes, indicate that the ureteric epithelium has taken over some of the functions of the proximal tubule in the “atubular” kidney of Myxine.
Sparsity of basal cytoplasmic processes and mitochondria in the ureteric duct cells appears to correlate with an inability for active, energy-dependent secretory and ion transport functions.
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This study has been supported by a grant from the Karolinska Institutet Medical School, Stockholm, Sweden (“Therese och Johan Anderssons Minne”). The author is indebted to Doctor Bertil Swedmark for permission to use the facilities of Kristineberg Marine Biology Station, Fiskebäckskil, Sweden, where hagfish were caught.
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Ericsson, J.L.E. Fine structure of ureteric duct epithelium in the North Atlantic hagfish (Myxine glutinosa L.). Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 83, 219–230 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00362403
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00362403