Somatic and meiotic chromosomes in male and female of Pomphorhynchus laevis Muller, 1776 (Acanthocephala: Pomphorhynchidae).

A detailed cytological description of somatic cell divisions, spermatogenesis, and the prophase stages of primary oocytes of Pomphorhynchus laevis Muller is reporte

Cutaneous myxidiosis in European eel, Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758): Histopathology, histochemistry and laminin immunohistochemistry

Histopathology, histochemistry and immunohistochemistry of the integument of European eel, Anguilla anguilla (Linnaeus, 1758), infected by Myxidium sp. are reported. Skin samples from affected and unaffected eels were dissected, formalin fixed, paraffin embedded, sectioned and stained with H&E, Periodic acid–Schiff's staining method, Alcian Blue 8 GX pH 2.5/Periodic acid–Schiff's and McCallum-Goodpasture's Gram stain. Moreover, immunohistochemistry was performed using a primary polyclonal laminin antibody. Histologically, cysts (diameter 2–3 mm) were observed mainly under the scale pockets, encircled by a thin collagen layer, lined by elongated, flattened fibroblasts and containing bipolar, PAS- and Gram-positive spores with opposite polar capsules. The epidermis stretched by the underlying cyst appeared dysplastic, thinned with a significant reduction in mucous cells number. Only inconsistent and aspecific inflammatory reaction was noted around the cysts at the dermis/epidermis interface. Intense laminin-like protein immunolabel was documented in the plasmodial ectoplasm and related to host anergia. This was the first report of laminin immunolabel in a member of the Myxozoa. Epidermal dysplasia represents likely an aspecific response against the underlying tensile force exerted by the developing parasite cyst, while fibroblast and collagen encapsulation denote a parasite-driven host response protecting, rather than harming, the encircled parasite

The chromosome complement of Leptorhyncoides plagicephalus (Westrumb, 1821), (Acanthocephala: Rhadinorhynchidae).

The study of mitotic and meiotic chromosomes of Leptorhyncoides plagicephalus is reported

Indagine parassitologica su Acipenser naccarii (Osteichtyes, Acipenseriformes) del fiume Po infestato da Leptorhynchoides plagicephalus (Acanthocephala).

Eighteen Acipenser naccarii specimcns, out of 22 cxamined (82%) from the Po rivcr proved to be infected by Leptorhynchoides plagicephalus. The parasite causes extensive lesions to the intestinal mucosa. As a response to parasitic presence in the attachment zone, the host tissue produces a fibrous thickening and shows a markcd infiltralion of leococytcs, mainly Lymphocytes and eosinophilic granulocytes. The prevalence of infection was found to increase with sturgeon age and there was no relationship with host sex

Histopathology in Atherina boyeri (Pisces: Atherinidae) resulting from infection by Telosentis exiguus (Acanthocephala).

The hystopatology developing in the sand smelt Atherina boyeri Risso 1810 from Northern Italy as the result of a natural infection by Telosentis exiguus Von Linstow 1901 (Achanthocephala) was studied and desribed. Microscope examination of sections of intestinal tissue showed that the parasites did not penetrate through all intestinal layer, and that damage was mostly limited to the epitheliu

The use of fractal dimension and lacunarity in the characterization of mast cell degranulation in rainbow trout (Onchorhynchus mykiss)

Fractal analysis is a reliablemethod for describing, summarizing object complexity and heterogeneity and has been widely used in biology andmedicine to deal with scale, size and shape management problems. The aim of present survey was to use fractal analysis as a complexity measure to characterize mast cells (MCs) degranulation ina rainbow trout ex vivo model (isolated organ bath). Compound 48/80, a condensation product of N-methyl-p-methoxyphenethylamine with formaldehyde, was adopted as MCs degranulation agent in trout intestinal strips. Fractal dimension (D), as a measure of complexity, ‘roughness’ and lacunarity (λ), as ameasure of rotational and translational invariance, heterogeneity, in other words, of the texture, were compared in MCs images taken from intestinal strips before and after compound 48/80 addition to evaluate if and how they were affected by degranulation. Such measures were also adopted to evaluate their discrimination efficacy between compound 48/80 degranulated group and not degranulated group and the results were compared with previously reported data obtainedwithconventional texture analysis (image histogram, run-length matrix, co-occurrence matrix, autoregressive model, wavelet transform) on the same experimental material. Outlines, skeletons and original greyscale images were fractal analysed to evaluate possible significant differences in the measures values according to the analysed feature. In particular, and considering outline and skeleton as analysed features, fractal dimensions from compound 48/80 treated intestinal stripswere significantly higher than the corresponding untreated ones (paired t and Wilcoxon test, p < 0.05), whereas corresponding lacunarity values were significantly lower (paired Wilcoxon test, p < 0.05) but only for outline as analysed feature. Outlines roughness increase is consistent with an increased granular mediators interface, favourable for their biological action; while lacunarity (image heterogeneity) reduction is consistent with the biological informative content decrease, due to granule content depletion. In spite of the significant differences in fractal dimension and lacunarity values registered according to the analysed feature (greyscale obtained values were, on average, lower than those obtained from outlines and skeletons; General Linear Model, p < 0.01), the discrimination power between not degranulated and degranulated MCs was, on average, the same and fully comparable with previously performed texture analysis on the same experimental material (outline and skeleton misclassification error, 20% [two false negative cases]; greyscale misclassification error, 30% [two false negative cases and one false positive case]). Fractal analysis proved to be a reliable and objective method for the characterization of MCs degranulation