Morphometric Criteria Research Articles

Fibrillary astrocytes are decreased in the subgenual cingulate in schizophrenia

Decreases in astrocyte density and in glial fibrillary acid protein (GFAP) mRNA in the anterior cingulate cortex have been reported changed in mood and affective disorders. Our study examines the relative density and frequency of fibrillary and gemistocytic astrocytes in the white matter of the subgenual cingulate cortex in 11 schizophrenia, 16 bipolar disorder, 20 major depression and 20 normal control cases. Serial coronal sections were stained with H&E for anatomical guidance and GFAP immunohistochemistry for astrocyte identification. Astrocyte density was measured using systematic anatomical distinctions and randomised counting methods previously reported. Astrocytes were classified as fibrillary or gemistocytic based on staining and morphometric criteria and were measured in the crown and base of the gyral white matter. Fibrillary astrocytes were decreased in the base of the cingulate white matter in schizophrenia (p = 0.046), with no change in the density of gemistocytic astrocytes. There was no change in density of gemistocytic astrocytes. This suggests that the previously reported decrease in astrocytes in schizophrenia in the subgenual cingulate is accounted for only by a change in fibrillary astrocytes. With recent findings suggesting fibrillary astrocytes regulate synaptic glutamate this morphological change may relate to disregulation of function of the subgenual cingulate cortex.

Detection of Circulating Tumor Cells in Patients With Adrenocortical Carcinoma: A Monocentric Preliminary Study

Adrenocortical carcinoma (ACC) is a rare malignancy, the prognosis of which is mainly dependent on stage at diagnosis. The identification of disease-associated markers for early diagnosis and drug monitoring is mandatory. Circulating tumor cells (CTCs) are released into the bloodstream from primary tumor/metastasis. CTC detection in blood samples may have enormous potential for assisting in the diagnosis of malignancy, estimating prognosis, and monitoring the disease. The aim of the study was to investigate the presence of CTCs in blood samples of patients with ACC or benign adrenocortical adenoma (ACA). We conducted the study at a university hospital. CTC analysis was performed in blood samples from 14 ACC patients and 10 ACA patients. CTCs were isolated on the basis of cell size by filtration through ScreenCell devices, followed by identification according to validated morphometric criteria and immunocytochemistry. We measured the difference in CTC detection between ACC and ACA. CTCs were detected in all ACC samples, but not in ACA samples. Immunocytochemistry confirmed the adrenocortical origin. When ACC patients were stratified according to the median value of tumor diameter and metastatic condition, a statistically significant difference was found in the number of CTCs detected after surgery. A significant correlation between the number of CTCs in postsurgical samples and clinical parameters was found for tumor diameter alone. Our findings provide the first evidence for adrenocortical tumors that CTCs may represent a useful marker to support differential diagnosis between ACC and ACA. The correlation with some clinical parameters suggests a possible relevance of CTC analysis for prognosis and noninvasive monitoring of disease progression and drug response.

Morphometric evaluation and nonclassical criteria for the diagnosis of HPV infection and cytological atypia in cervical samples

Herein, we evaluated cervical samples from normal tissue or HPV-infected tissue, to determine if the relative nuclear/cytoplasmic ratio (NA/CA) and the presence of nonclassical cytological criteria are a novel cytological criterion for the diagnosis of HPV. Significantly, larger NA/CA ratios were found for the HPV-ATYPIA+ and HPV+ATYPIA+ groups compared with HPV-ATYPIA- group, regardless of collection method. For the samples collected with a spatula, only three samples from the HPV-ATIPIA- group showed four or more nonclassical parameters (i.e., were positive), while a larger number of the samples in the HPV-ATYPIA+, HPV+ATYPIA-, and HPV+ATYPIA+ groups were positive (13, 4, and 13 samples, respectively). Among those collected with a brush, no sample showed four or more nonclassical criteria in the HPV-ATYPIA- group, while a number of samples were positive in the HPV-ATYPIA+, HPV+ATYPIA-, and HPV+ATYPIA+ groups (4, 3, and 4 samples, respectively). HPV infection was associated with significant morphometrical changes; no increase in the NA/CA ratio was found in the HPV+ATYPIA- samples, compared with the HPV-ATIPIA- samples collected with either a spatula or a brush. In conclusion, by including nonclassical cytological criteria into the patient diagnosis, we were able to reduce the number of false negative and false positive HPV diagnoses made using conventional cytology alone.

Genetically Confirmed Fasciola Hepatogigantica N.Sp

Identification of liver fluke species cannot be achieved by clinical, pathological, coprological or immunological methods. However, the differential diagnosis between F. hepatica and F. gigantica infection is very important because of their different pathological manifestations. Moreover, in countries where the two species co-exist, morphologically intermediate forms were reported. The present study aimed to identify these forms by the use of molecular characterization of DNA sequence. Based on morphometric criteria, adults of Fasciola hepatica, F. gigantica and intermediate forms were collected from naturally infected sheep and cattle from various regions of Sohag Governorate. A simple and rapid new method (QIAamp DNA Mini Kit) was used to isolate DNA from the worms and their RELP patterns were obtained after digestion of the PCR products with AvalI restriction enzymes. The result of a regular PCR experiment for the amplification of the selected 28S rDNA fragment with the designed primer set yielded identical 618- bp-long PCR products for the three types of Fasciola where the RFLP profile obtained from F. hepatica revealed four fragments of 628, 575, 165 and 95 bp, and F. gigantica generated three fragments corresponding to 628, 358 and 300 bp fragments whereas the intermediate forms revealed four fragments of 628, 541, 358 and 300 bp, which were similar to those ofF. gigantica but with a distinctive fragment of 541. These results confirmed that three species are present in our locality: F. hepatica, F. gigantica and an intermediate form which was named F. hepatogigantica n.sp. on basis of having few morphometric characters from F. hepatica (length and pattern of uterine coils) but genetically they were more related to F. gigantica.

Morphometric analyses of canine blood microfilariae isolated by the Knott’s test enables Dirofilaria immitis and D. repens species-specific and Acanthocheilonema (syn. Dipetalonema) genus-specific diagnosis

BackgroundConsidering the increasing importance of small animals travel medicine and the spread of filariae with zoonotic potential to non-endemic European areas, routine filarial diagnosis in dogs is becoming important. Dirofilaria immitis, D. repens, Acanthocheilonema dracunculoides and A. reconditum are the most common canine filarial nematodes presenting blood circulating microfilariae (mf) which can be differentiated to species level by the acid phosphatase activity patterns or by PCR. Available data on the size of the mf vary considerably in the literature. The aim of this study was to validate morphometric criteria for filarial identification in blood samples of dogs after concentration of mf with the modified Knott’s technique.MethodsMorphometric analysis of 10 mf from samples identified to species level by acid phosphatase activity and partially confirmed by PCR were performed with specimens from 377 dogs.ResultsThe mean length and width of D. immitis mf from 60 dogs were 301.77±6.29 μm and 6.30±0.26 μm, of D. repens mf from 171 dogs 369.44±10.76 μm 8.87±0.58 μm, of A. dracunculoides mf from 133 dogs 259.43±6.69 μm and 5.09±0.47 μm and of A. reconditum mf from 13 dogs 264.83±5.47 μm and 4.63±0.52 μm.For a subset of 30 samples, morphometric analysis was repeated with identical results in two laboratories. Furthermore, the size of mf concentrated and fixed by the Knott’s technique was shown to be stable over 105 days.ConclusionsThe Knott’s test enables to clearly distinguish between D. immitis, D. repens and Acanthocheilonema spp. However, due to the overlapping size ranges of A. dracunculoides and A. reconditum, biochemical or molecular methods are required to distinguish these two species.

A Study Of Morphometrical Differences Between Normal Mucosa, Dysplasia , Squamous Cell Carcinoma & Pseudoepitheliomatous Hyperplasia Of The Oral Mucosa

Cancer is a highly complex disease due to the disruption of tissue architecture. Thus, tissues, and not individual cells, are the proper level of observation for the study of carcinogenesis. Thus the shape and regularity of the epithelial connective tissue interface(ECTI),has classically been used to describe both physiological and pathological changes in the oral mucosa,including cancer. However, the description of ECTI has most often been subjective. The use of fractal geometry, has therefore been used to describe the irregularities of ECTI profiles taken from the oral mucosa both in normal and abnormal cases.Also the Pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia (PEH) of the covering epithelium mimics the squamous cell carcinoma invasion.PEH cells do not show marked atypia ,but the presence of pseudoinvasive pattern remains a diagnostic problem since several misdiagnosed cases have been reported. Similar diagnostic problems do occur sometimes between normal & dysplasia or dysplasia & squamous cell carcinoma. The aim of this study is to investigate the objective morphometric criteria to distinguish each entity separately ie. normal ,dysplasia ,pseudoepitheliomatous hyperplasia & squamous cell carcinoma .

Two New Species of Hapalorhynchus (Digenea: Spirorchiidae) from Freshwater Turtles (Testudines: Geoemydidae) in Malaysia

Hapalorhynchus snyderi n. sp. and Hapalorhynchus tkachi n. sp. are described from the circulatory systems of the Malayan snail-eating turtle, Malayemys subtrijuga (Testudines: Geoemydidae) and the black marsh turtle, Siebenrockiella crassicollis (Testudines: Geoemydidae), respectively. Both of the new species are described from hosts in the family Geoemydidae, while previous species reported from Malaysia (Hapalorhynchus macrotesticularis and Hapalorhynchus rugatus) were described from soft-shelled turtles (Family Trionychidae). Both new species can be differentiated from H. rugatus Brooks and Sullivan (1981) in that they lack the rugae on the hindbody that is characteristic of H. rugatus. Hapalorhynchus snyderi n. sp. is most similar to H. macrotesticularis (Rohde, Lee, and Lim, 1968) but is much smaller and differs from that species in a suite of morphometric criteria. In addition, H. snyderi possesses intestinal cecae that are simple and straight while the cecae in H. macrotesticularis are highly sinuous, particularly in the posttesticular region. Hapalorhynchus tkachi n. sp. can be differentiated from H. snyderi by its much smaller size (<1 mm in total length), the presence of a distinct constriction at the level of the acetabulum, and the more-posterior location of the ventral sucker.

Omental pedicle transposition and suture repair of peripheral nerve: A comparative study of functional, histological, morphometric and relative gastrocnemius muscle weight in rabbits

The peripheral nervous system is able to regenerate after injury. Etiologies of injuries include penetrating injury, crush, traction, and ischemia compression. However, the presence of various nerve injury treatments such as coaptation and another technique to attain functional nerve regeneration are still inadequate. This study aimed to compare the effectiveness of omental pedicle transposition and epineural nerve suture on peripheral nerve regeneration in a rabbit model. Ten male New Zealand white rabbits were divided into two groups. In the primary epineural repair group or control group (CG), the left sciatic nerve was skeletonized from the sciatic notch till the point of bifurcation. The nerve was transected at the mid shaft of the femoral bone and repaired with six epineural sutures. In the treatment group (TG), the epineural repaired sciatic nerve was wrapped with omental pedicle around the site of coaptation. Assessment of the nerve regeneration was based on functional (motor and sensory), histological, morphometric criteria and relative gastrocnemius muscle weight. The results of the examination show that the treated group had better regeneration and functional recovery. Key words: Omental pedicle, regeneration, hispathological, morphometric, sciatic nerve.

Classification and Lateralization of Temporal Lobe Epilepsies with and without Hippocampal Atrophy Based on Whole-Brain Automatic MRI Segmentation

Brain images contain information suitable for automatically sorting subjects into categories such as healthy controls and patients. We sought to identify morphometric criteria for distinguishing controls (n = 28) from patients with unilateral temporal lobe epilepsy (TLE), 60 with and 20 without hippocampal atrophy (TLE-HA and TLE-N, respectively), and for determining the presumed side of seizure onset. The framework employs multi-atlas segmentation to estimate the volumes of 83 brain structures. A kernel-based separability criterion was then used to identify structures whose volumes discriminate between the groups. Next, we applied support vector machines (SVM) to the selected set for classification on the basis of volumes. We also computed pairwise similarities between all subjects and used spectral analysis to convert these into per-subject features. SVM was again applied to these feature data. After training on a subgroup, all TLE-HA patients were correctly distinguished from controls, achieving an accuracy of 96 ± 2% in both classification schemes. For TLE-N patients, the accuracy was 86 ± 2% based on structural volumes and 91 ± 3% using spectral analysis. Structures discriminating between patients and controls were mainly localized ipsilaterally to the presumed seizure focus. For the TLE-HA group, they were mainly in the temporal lobe; for the TLE-N group they included orbitofrontal regions, as well as the ipsilateral substantia nigra. Correct lateralization of the presumed seizure onset zone was achieved using hippocampi and parahippocampal gyri in all TLE-HA patients using either classification scheme; in the TLE-N patients, lateralization was accurate based on structural volumes in 86 ± 4%, and in 94 ± 4% with the spectral analysis approach. Unilateral TLE has imaging features that can be identified automatically, even when they are invisible to human experts. Such morphometric image features may serve as classification and lateralization criteria. The technique also detects unsuspected distinguishing features like the substantia nigra, warranting further study.

Various Confocal Scan Features of Cysts and Trophozoites in Cases with Acanthamoeba Keratitis

To describe the various confocal scan features of cysts and trophozoites in patients with Acanthamoeba keratitis and to specify the associated findings. In a retrospective study of cases between June 2005 and June 2010, we reviewed all the recorded confocal scan images of patients given a high index in regards to clinical suspicion of Acanthamoeba keratitis, in order to specify the various morphometric and morphologic features of Acanthamoeba cysts and trophozoites and to characterize the associated findings in such cases. Confocal scan images of 170 eyes from 170 patients were reviewed. Bilayered, target-shaped, coffee-bean and rod-shaped appearances of the cysts were observed in 100%, 82.9%, 36.4%, and 17.5% of cases, respectively. Single file arrangement of the cysts was noticed in 22 cases. The mean size of the cysts was 18.9 µm (range 10-39.6). In all cases, trophozoites were observed as pear-shaped or irregularly wedge-shaped structures, some surrounded by a brilliant halo and some exhibiting fine pseudopodia-like extensions, with mean size of 30.2 µm (range 19.2-55.6). Keratoneuritis and the anterior stromal honeycomb pattern were seen in 28.2% and 5.9% of cases, respectively. To our knowledge, this is the largest case-series study on confocal scan features of Acanthamoeba cysts and trophozoites in cases with clinical diagnosis of Acanthamoeba keratitis specifying the morphologic and morphometric criteria of this infectious organism and the associated findings.

Diagnostic Value of Morphometry in Feline Hypertrophic Cardiomyopathy

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common form of feline heart disease. To date, reliable morphometric reference data for anatomical or histological changes are unavailable. The aim of this study was to identify diagnostically relevant morphometric criteria that clearly distinguish feline HCM from normal hearts. Hearts from 15 cats with HCM had increased weights (g per distance between the first and eighth vertebral bodies) when compared with hearts from 15 matched control cats. Several anatomically defined and digitally scanned areas of standardized cross sections were significantly increased in HCM when compared with controls, including the area across the entire heart half-way between the coronary sulcus and apex, the right and left ventricular walls and the ventricular septum. Differences were similar when the papillary muscles were included in the measurements of the right and left ventricular walls and the ventricular septum. Histological morphometric analyses failed to identify any significant differences, including the diameter and cross-sectional area of cardiomyocytes and the length, width or areas of cross-sectioned nuclei. In addition, morphometric analyses failed to identify any differences in the amount of cardiomyocyte fibre branching or myocardial fibrosis. Thus, only the relative weight and macroscopical analyses proved useful in distinguishing feline hearts with HCM from normal hearts. The results do not uphold the hypothesis that increased cardiomyocyte diameter is a principal change in feline HCM.

English

The peripheral nervous system has the ability to regenerate after injury. Peripheral nerve injuries are caused by penetrating injury, crush, traction and ischemia compression. However, the availability of various nerve coaptation and other techniques for the attainment of functional nerve regeneration is still inadequate. The objective of this study was to compare the effectiveness of bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs) implantation and epineural nerve suture on peripheral nerve regeneration in a rabbit model. Ten male New Zealand white rabbits were divided into two groups. In the primary epineural repair group (control group), the left sciatic nerve was skeletonized from the sciatic notch to the point of bifurcation, with the nerve been transected at the mid-shaft of the femoral bone and repaired with six epineural sutures. In the treated group, the epineural repaired nerve was implanted with BMSCs in the proximal and distal segments of the transected sciatic nerve. Assessment of the nerve regeneration was based on functional (motor and sensory), histological and morphometric criteria, including the number of myelinated nerve fibers, nerve fiber diameter, axon diameter, myelin sheath thickness, g ratio and relative gastrocnemius muscle weight. The results of the examination showed that the treated group had the best regeneration and functional recovery. &nbsp; Keyword:&nbsp;Bone marrow stromal cells (BMSCs), histopathology, morphometric, peripheral nerve, regeneration.

Changes in calcareous nannofossil assemblages during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum: Clues from the central-western Tethys (Alano section, NE Italy)

We present a study focused on changes in calcareous nannofossil assemblages of the Alano section during the Middle Eocene Climatic Optimum (MECO). This warming event is characterized by a prominent perturbation both in oxygen and carbon stable isotopes around the Chron C18r-C18n transition (ca. 40 Ma) and lasting ca. 500-600 kyr. Semi- quantitative analyses on calcareous nannofossil assemblages have been carried out. Our results show that the MECO interval coincides with a significant shift in the relative abundance of calcareous nannofossil taxa, suggesting a relationship between biotic changes and stable isotope shifts. Paleoecological studies at species level and/or based on morphometric criteria (i.e., small placoliths) sometimes show the opposite behaviour between changes observed at the genus level and those observed at lower taxonomic levels. For instance, a taxon thought to be better adapted to oligotrophic/warm waters, e.g. Sphenolithus, shows a prominent decrease if analyzed at genus level, but an increase was instead recorded for S. spiniger. Moreover, taxa preferentially thriving in eutrophic/cold waters, as for instance small reticulofenestrids, increase remarkably in abundance during this warming phase, while medium-large placoliths do not show any significant trend. An increase in reworked, mainly Cretaceous, specimens is also observed during the MECO. These lines of evidence are consistent with a transient enrichment in dissolved nutrients in warmer sea surface waters suggesting that an enhanced nutrient availability could have driven the make-up of the calcareous nannofossil assemblages. The increase in reworking may indicate an increase in terrigenous input, due to increased chemical weathering likely produced by an enhanced hydrological cycle.

Multiplex PCR identification of Taenia spp. in rodents and carnivores

The genus Taenia includes several species of veterinary and public health importance, but diagnosis of the etiological agent in definitive and intermediate hosts often relies on labor intensive and few specific morphometric criteria, especially in immature worms and underdeveloped metacestodes. In the present study, a multiplex PCR, based on five primers targeting the 18S rDNA and ITS2 sequences, produced a species-specific banding patterns for a range of Taenia spp. Species typing by the multiplex PCR was compared to morphological identification and sequencing of cox1 and/or 12S rDNA genes. As compared to sequencing, the multiplex PCR identified 31 of 32 Taenia metacestodes from rodents, whereas only 14 cysts were specifically identified by morphology. Likewise, the multiplex PCR identified 108 of 130 adult worms, while only 57 were identified to species by morphology. The tested multiplex PCR system may potentially be used for studies of Taenia spp. transmitted between rodents and carnivores.

SEQUENTIAL QUANTITATIVE ANALYSIS OF OVAL CELL PROLIFERATION IN THIOACETAMIDE TREATED RATS

Oval cells are the progeny of facultative stem cells found in the periportal areas in response to liver injury in experimental animals and humans. The aims of this study were to describe the morphological, stereological and morphometric features of oval cells, and to compare them with those of bile duct cells and hepatocytes. It was also aimed to study the fate of oval cells by morphological and morphometric criteria. Rats were given thioacetamide to induce liver injury. The livers from experimental and control groups were processed routinely and stereological and morphometric analysis assessed using a computer image analysis system. Eight morphometric parameters were assessed in oval cells, bile duct cells and hepatocytes from control and experimental rats. Mitoses were observed in both oval cells and hepatocytes. Stereological area fraction analysis indicated that necrosis reached its maximum extent at 30 hours followed by regeneration and almost complete restoration of liver cell parenchyma at 132 hours. Oval cell proliferation reached a peak at 48-52 hours but was not apparent at 132 hours. Morphometric findings have shown increases in the nuclear diameter and nuclear area of oval cells with changes in the roundness and contours ratios of the nuclear membrane. It is concluded from this study that in thioacetamide treated rats, the liver responds to injury by bile ductal proliferation in the periportal areas which, accompanied by hepatocyte regeneration, leads to restoration of the hepatic parenchyma. At a subcellular morphological level the nuclei of oval cells showed a progressive change to a hepatocyte phenotype from that of a normal biliary cell, suggesting the differentiation of these cells into hepatocytes.

Characterising spectral, spatial and morphometric properties of landslides for semi-automatic detection using object-oriented methods

Recognition and classification of landslides is a critical requirement in pre- and post-disaster hazard analysis. This has been primarily done through field mapping or manual image interpretation. However, image interpretation can also be done semi-automatically by creating a routine in object-based classification using the spectral, spatial and morphometric properties of landslides, and by incorporating expert knowledge. This is a difficult task since a fresh landslide has spectral properties that are nearly identical to those of other natural objects, such as river sand and rocky outcrops, and they also do not have unique shapes. This paper investigates the use of a combination of spectral, shape and contextual information to detect landslides. The algorithm is tested with a 5.8 m multispectral data from Resourcesat-1 and a 10 m digital terrain model generated from 2.5 m Cartosat-1 imagery for an area in the rugged Himalayas in India. It uses objects derived from the segmentation of a multispectral image as classifying units for object-oriented analysis. Spectral information together with shape and morphometric characteristics was used initially to separate landslides from false positives. Objects recognised as landslides were subsequently classified based on material type and movement as debris slides, debris flows and rock slides, using adjacency and morphometric criteria. They were further classified for their failure mechanism using terrain curvature. The procedure was developed for a training catchment and then applied without further modification on an independent catchment. A total of five landslide types were detected by this method with 76.4% recognition and 69.1% classification accuracies. This method detects landslides relatively quickly, and hence has the potential to aid risk analysis, disaster management and decision making processes in the aftermath of an earthquake or an extreme rainfall event.

Genetics, Shell Morphology, and Life History of the Freshwater Pulmonate Limpets Ferrissia rivularis and Ferrissia fragilis

ABSTRACT The weak and variable nature of the shell morphometric criteria by which the North American ancylid limpets Ferrissia rivularis and Ferrissia fragilis are distinguished has led to speculation that they may be ecophenotypic variants. The shells of F. rivularis that we collected from a rocky river in the upper piedmont of South Carolina were significantly higher and wider per length than those of an F. fragilis population collected from a weedy ditch in the coastal plain. Both populations laid singleton eggs approximately 0.6 mm diameter in culture, hatching in one week and maturing in four-five weeks at 2.0–3.0 mm shell length. Adult F. rivularis reared in our laboratory environment were morphologically indistinguishable from F. fragilis, suggesting that the differences in shell shape displayed by their wild-collected parents may have little additive genetic component. Both populations were fixed for identical allozyme alleles at nine loci, with two alleles segregating at a tenth, IsdhF. The absence of ZsdhF heterozygotes in wild-collected samples of 104 F. rivularis individuals (p = 0.52, q = 0.48) and 102 F. fragilis individuals (p = 0.14, q = 0.86), together with no evidence of outcrossing in laboratory breeding experiments, suggests obligate self-fertilization. Thus in the absence of any reliable morphological distinction, we propose that F. fragilis be considered a junior synonym of F. rivularis.

Comparison of collagen biomatrix and omentum effectiveness on peripheral nerve regeneration

Despite the presence of various nerve coaptation materials and techniques, achievement of the functional nerve regeneration is still inadequate. This study was aimed to compare the effectiveness of conduit composed of collagen biomatrix and omentum graft on peripheral nerve regeneration. Thirty-five male Wistar rats were divided into four groups. In the control group, the right sciatic nerve was skeletonized from the sciatic notch till the point of bifurcation. In the primary epineural repair group, the nerve was transected 1 cm proximal to the bifurcation with a sharp pair of micro scissors and then repaired with four epineural sutures. In the collagen biomatrix group, the epineural repaired nerve was wrapped with collagen biomatrix. In the collagen group, the epineural repaired nerve was wrapped with the nonpediculated omentum. Assessment of the nerve regeneration was based on functional (Walking Track Analysis, Electrophysiological Measurements), histological, and morphometric criteria. Light and electron microscopic examinations showed that collagen-biomatrix-wrapped specimens have the best regeneration. The electrophysiological study confirmed the recovery of electrical activity in the regenerated axons.

Macro‐Anatomical and Karyological Features of Two Blind Mole Rat Subspecies (Rodentia: Spalacidae) from Turkey

The morphometric and karyological analyses of 52 specimens belonging to the two subspecies of Nannospalax leucodon were examined from 14 localities in Turkey. Five karyotypic forms were recorded (2n = 60, the total numbers of chromosomal arms (NF) = 74, the numbers of autosomal arms (NFa) = 70; 2n = 60, NF = 76, NFa = 72; 2n = 60, NF = 82, NFa = 78; 2n = 56, NF = 72, NFa = 68; 2n = 38, NF = 74, NFa = 70). The morphological features of two subspecies were studied using both numerical taxonomy and traditional methods. Thirty skull measurements and four baculum measurements were subjected to discriminant function analysis to find morphometric criteria allowing subspecies identification. Two subspecies were clearly separated from each other by macroanatomical characterictics and numeric characteristics. The first upper molar has four alveoli cubicles in young specimens of Nannospalax leucodon anatolicus, while M(1) has 1 cubicle in Nannospalax leucodon cilicicus. In the western subspecies (N. l. anatolicus, 2n = 38), urethra openness is surrounded by three lobes. However, in the eastern subspecies (N. l. cilicicus, 2n = 60), there are two lateral lobes.

Morphometric analysis of the proximal tibial cartilage tissue (author's transl)

We analysed the tibial cartilage of 5 juvenile and 10 adult non-degenerative knees for morphometric criteria. Determination of cellular and nuclear total volume per unit cartilage volume,, number of cells and nuclei per unit cartilage volumen and cellular and nuclear single volumen of chondrocytes in the superficial and basal cartilage layer was done in relation to their being covered by meniscus. We found cells and nuclei and their total volumen in the superficial layer constantly smaller, number of chondrocytes and nuclei constantly higher than in the basal layer. This was clearly seen in the meniscus-covered part of cartilage, less marked in the central non-covered part. In adults the central cells are superficially hypertrophic and gain few individual and total volume in the basal layer. These superficial central cells are on a high level of metabolism, synthesising much intercellular substance, but they prostrate in basal direction. The aging chondrocyte is maximal adapted to the strain and uncapable to react to further load.