Distribution of the glio-interstitial system in molluscs. II. Electron microscopy of tonic and phasic muscles in the digestive tract of Aplysia and other opisthobranchs

Abstract

The muscular walls of the buccal mass and the oesophagus of Aplysia rosea and Glossodoris tricolor were studied by electron microscopy. The cytological features of the muscle cells, neuro-muscular junctions and a neuro-glial junction are described. This junction between an axon and a teloglial process, in the oesophagus of Aplysia, possesses all the cytological differentiations of a typical molluscan synapse. Particular attention is drawn to the distribution of the glio-interstitial tissue and the size of the extracellular spaces in these muscular organs. The classification of these muscle into 'tonic' and 'phasic' types is discussed. From this study and other data, it is concluded that the development of the glio-interstitial tissue in the muscular organs of molluscs is correlated with the size of the extracellular spaces rather than with the type of contraction of the muscle.