title: Lamellar bodies in differentiating insect tissues during basal lamina formation as revealed by tannic acid.
abstract: Tannic acid penetrates differentiating tissues differentially resulting in variable contrast, extraction and dense bodies with a lamellar substructure. The penetrability appears to correlate with the existence and/or robustness of a basal lamina. In the male genital tract, probably of mesodermal origin, tannic acid penetrates the epithelium until there is a basal lamina, but in the ectodermal bursa copulatrix it does not penetrate since there is always a basal lamina. The lamellae of the dense bodies have a center-to-center spacing of 4.65 +/- 0.025 nm, dimensions which resemble those of phospholipids.
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001485:Basement Membrane / Q000502:physiology* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004441:Ecdysterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D004848:Epithelium / Q000502:physiology / Q000648:ultrastructure; D005260:Female; D005836:Genitalia, Female / Q000254:growth & development; D005837:Genitalia, Male / Q000254:growth & development; D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins; D007915:Lepidoptera / Q000254:growth & development*; D008297:Male; D024510:Muscle Development; D009132:Muscles / Q000648:ultrastructure; D013634:Tannins
chemical_list: D047348:Hydrolyzable Tannins; D013634:Tannins; D004441:Ecdysterone