Journal Molluscan Studies Advance Access originally published online on November 1, 2007
Journal of Molluscan Studies 2008 74(1):1-9; doi:10.1093/mollus/eym040
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Histochemical localization of NADPH-diaphorase-positive elements in the enteric nervous system of bivalve molluscs
A.V. Zhirmunsky Institute of Marine Biology, Palchevsky 17, Russian Academy of Sciences, Vladivostok 690041, Russia
Correspondence: E.A. Pimenova; e-mail: eapimenova{at}yandex.ru
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Using a nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate-diaphorase (NADPH-d) histochemistry, localization and morphology of putative nitric oxide synthase-containing elements were studied in the intestine of the following bivalves: Ruditapes philippinarum, Callithaca adamsi, Mercenaria stimpsoni (Veneridae), Corbicula japonica (Corbiculidae), Nodularia vladivostokensis and Cristaria tuberculata (Unionidae). NADPH-d-positive nerve cells and plexuses were found in the intestine of all species studied. Labelled diformazan bipolar nerve cells were present in the epithelium of the intestinal groove and typhlosole of the anterior midgut, the midgut proper, and the hindgut. Their apical process extended towards the gut lumen, whereas the basal one was connected with the basiepithelial NADPH-d-positive nerve plexus. In the typhlosole of N. vladivostokensis, these cells constituted up to 2.68% of the total number of epithelial cells. The bivalve species studied exhibit a similar distribution pattern of NADPH-d-positive cells, which lie separately or form small groups of two to three in the basal part of the epithelium. Basiepithelial NADPH-d-positive plexus was connected by separate fibres with subepithelial NADPH-d-positive nerve plexus. Both the plexuses were moderately developed in all intestinal regions in the majority of the species examined.
(Received 27 March 2007; accepted 4 September 2007)