title: Serial repetition of cilia pairs along the tail surface of an ascidian larva.
abstract: Regularly spaced cilia pairs were found in two rows immediately opposite to each other mid-dorsally and mid-ventrally along the larval tail surface of the ascidian protochordate Ciona intestinalis. There were approximately ten such equidistantly placed dorsal-ventral sets embedded in the matrix of the extracellular larval test which forms the flattened vertical tail fin. These immotile cilia originate from pairs of cell bodies in mid-dorsal and mid-ventral peripheral nerves running beneath the tail epidermis. The cilia and neural cell bodies were visualized by immunocytochemical staining with anti-tubulin antibodies; their nature was confirmed by ultrastructural examination. This pattern of cilia and neural cell body placement is conceivably related to the segmentation found in vertebrates.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, Canada.
authors.forename: R J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Crowther
authors.forename: J R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Whittaker
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D005075:Biological Evolution; D002923:Cilia / Q000648:ultrastructure; D007124:Immunoenzyme Techniques; D007814:Larva / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D013623:Tail / Q000033:anatomy & histology; D014404:Tubulin / Q000276:immunology; D014561:Urochordata / Q000033:anatomy & histology* / Q000196:embryology / Q000648:ultrastructure
chemical_list: D014404:Tubulin