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Electron Microscopy of the Longitudinal Fibrillar Bundle and the Contractile Fibrillar System in Spirostomum ambiguum
Author(s) -
YAGIU RYOZO,
SHIGENAKA YOSHINOBU
Publication year - 1963
Publication title -
the journal of protozoology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.067
H-Index - 77
eISSN - 1550-7408
pISSN - 0022-3921
DOI - 10.1111/j.1550-7408.1963.tb01689.x
Subject(s) - fibril , anatomy , electron microscope , biophysics , ultrastructure , bundle , cilium , myofibril , biology , crystallography , chemistry , materials science , optics , microbiology and biotechnology , composite material , biochemistry , physics
SYNOPSIS. A study of the ‘longitudinal fibrillar bundle’ (LFB) and the ‘contractile fibrillar system’ (CFS) of a large protozoan ciliate, Spirostomum ambiguum , has been performed by means of an electron microscope. A system of sub‐pellicular fibrils has been newly found and its function is discussed. Each LFB runs parallel with a longitudinal row of ciliary bases. It seems to be identical with the so‐called kinetodesma. It is composed of tubular fibrils arranged in layered sheets, each of which contains 13 to 35 fibrils with the same diameter as the intra‐ciliary fibrils and has a close connection to each of the ciliary bases. The CFS lies on a transitional plane between ectoplasm and endoplasm of the organism and forms a cobweb‐like system of myofibrils as a whole. It stands in an intimate relationship with a characteristic vacuolar system. In a peristomial field, the fibrous structures are interrupted and somewhat thickened. A sub‐pellicular system is composed of minute fibrils 20 to 26 mμ in diameter. The fibrils run parallel with each other in an antero‐posterior direction, immediately beneath the inner pellicular membrane.