Histochemical localization of acid phosphatase in the ovary of Gerris remigis say (Hemiptera).

Abstract

AbstractThe localization of acid phosphatase in the telotrophic ovary of the water strider, Gerris remigis, has been studied by light microscopy, utilizing a simultaneous coupling azo dye technique on frozen sections. The enzyme is demonstrable in the cytoplasm of advanced nurse cells, and to a variable degree in the trophic core. Reactivity is also distributed throughout the cytoplasm of young (germarial) oocytes. As oocytes enlarge and pass into the vitellarium, reactivity becomes confined to a peripheral band, which widens and becomes associated with a peripheral accumulation of preyolk bodies. This reactivity disappears from the ooplasm before vitellogenesis is entirely completed. Oocytes which undergo degeneration before completing maturation display large, internal, phosphatase‐reactive areas.Acid phosphatase is first demonstrable in follicle cells at the onset of vitellogenesis. Variations in its intensity and intracellular localization are in conformity with previous suggestions in the literature that follicle cells are implicated in vitellogenesis and in subsequent chorion elaboration. Following ovulation, the follicle cells become intensely reactive and as they degenerate, some of this reactive material is expelled from the ovary through the follicle cell basal surfaces. Reactive residues accumulate in the yellow body at the base of the ovary. Thus the enzyme localization is correlated with physiological autolysis in nurse cells and post‐ovulatory follicle cells and with pathological autolysis in oocytes. Its localization in normally developing oocytes and follicle cells suggests involvement in the process of vitellogenesis and chorion formation as well.