Author
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BALDWIN, KATE - DEPT ANATOMY, HOWARD UNIV |
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HAKIM, RAZIEL - DEPT ANATOMY, HOWARD UNIV |
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Loeb, Marcia |
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SADRUD-DIN, SAKEENAH - DEPT ANATOMY, HOWARD UNIV |
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Submitted to: The Insect Midgut
Publication Type: Book / Chapter Publication Acceptance Date: 7/6/1995 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: The midgut is the largest organ in the insect. As an insect feeds, it takes into its gut pathogens such as toxins and viruses; these toxins or virus particles then enter the body proper from the gut. Therefore, it is important to understand how the midgut is formed and how its cells maintain the most peculiar and yet constant structural gut cell arrangement in order to best understand how to implement pest control mechanisms which utilize the gut as the entryway into the insect body. This chapter attempts to analyze the development of the gut from a morphological standpoint and also from studies of isolated gut cells maintained in tissue culture Technical Abstract: This chapter describes the origin and embryonic development of the insect midgut, from the more primitive insects, such as apterygotes, to the more evolutionarily advanced insects such as the Diptera and Lepidoptera. Attention is paid to development of cell connections (gap and septate junctions) which determine whether the gut epithelial cells "listen" to each other or remain separate in function. The chapter also describes the changes in the gut which occur during molting, such as the increase in stem cell number prior to the molt, and the method by which newly differentiating stem cells intercalate into the existing gut epidermis so that the pattern of stem and goblet cells remains constant and, at the same time, the gut increases in size. Tissue culture studies on isolated gut epithelium are described, which provide some insight into the mechanisms by which the stem cells develop into mature epithelial forms. |
