Abstract
Abstract During metamorphosis amphibian tadpoles regress gills, tail and other larval structures. Thus gills are a good model to study how a highly complex three-dimensional vascular network regresses and finally disappears. Presently, only the microvascularization of external gills of larvae of Hynobius dunni(2) and Litoria ewingi(3) is examined. The present study analyzes the spatio-temporal changes which the gill 3D-vascular network undergoes during metamorphosis using SEM of microvascular corrosion castings and a newly developed 3D-morphometry system (4, 5). Vascular casts of gills of tadpoles of the South African Clawed Toad, Xenopus laevis Daudin of stages 57 to 62 (6) were analyzed by SEM. Stereopaired images (tilting angle: 6 degrees) grabbed with a slow scan frame grabber (Orion 4.27) from the SEMs photo-display were imported into a 3Dmorphometry system (6) to measure vessel diameters, interbranching distances, branching angles and branching orders of filter row venules. This study reports the changes in the branching orders only.
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