title: The spleen pigment cells in some amphibia.
abstract: It was demonstrated that the spleen pigment cells of Amphibia are macrophages: they show an ultrastructurally distinctive morphology, are able to phagocytose and react positively for non-specific esterases. These pigmented macrophages express mRNA for tyrosinase and also they show dopa oxidase activity; therefore they are able to synthesize melanins, as Kupffer cells do.
authors.affiliation: Dipartimento di Scienze biomediche, Sezione di Biologia generale, cellulare e di Genetica molecolare, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy.
authors.forename: Marina
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Scalia
authors.forename: Cinzia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Di Pietro
authors.forename: Mariangela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Poma
authors.forename: Marco
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ragusa
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Sichel
authors.forename: Concetta
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Corsaro
mesh_terms: D000557:Ambystoma; D000663:Amphibians; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism*; D008543:Melanins / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D008854:Microscopy, Electron; D008855:Microscopy, Electron, Scanning; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D009696:Nucleic Acids / Q000378:metabolism; D010587:Phagocytosis; D010858:Pigmentation; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D011893:Rana esculenta; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D013154:Spleen / Q000378:metabolism*; D014982:Xenopus laevis
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D008543:Melanins; D009696:Nucleic Acids; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014442:Monophenol Monooxygenase