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Permeable sites in the firefly lantern tracheal system: Use of osmium tetroxide vapor as a tracer
Author(s) -
Ghiradella H.
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
journal of morphology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.652
H-Index - 74
eISSN - 1097-4687
pISSN - 0362-2525
DOI - 10.1002/jmor.1051770203
Subject(s) - osmium tetroxide , biology , tracer , osmium , lantern , firefly protocol , biophysics , biochemistry , zoology , chemistry , physics , organic chemistry , ruthenium , optics , catalysis , electron microscope , ring (chemistry) , nuclear physics
Flashing fireflies were permitted to breathe osmium tetroxide vapor, after which the lanterns were removed and the sites of absorption of the osmium into the tissues were detected in two ways: (1) by sonication to remove soft tissues, that is, those that had not been fixed by the osmium gas, and (2) by intensification with thiocarbohydrazide and silver nitrate, in a modification of the osmium–thiocarbohydrazide–osmium (OTO) stain technique. The results of both procedures indicate that the gas first enters into the tissues at the level of the tracheoles. These findings may be interpreted as underscoring the importance of the tracheolar cell and the tracheal end organ in the control of oxygen entry into the lantern tissues, and the implications of the results in the oxygen regulation theory of flash control are discussed.