AN AUTORADIOGRAPHIC DEMONSTRATION OF STOMACH TOOTH RENEWAL INPHYLLAPLYSIA TAYLORIDALL, 1900 (GASTROPODA: OPISTHOBRANCHIA)
Open Access
- 1 April 1969
- journal article
- other
- Published by University of Chicago Press in The Biological Bulletin
- Vol. 136 (2) , 141-146
- https://doi.org/10.2307/1539808
Abstract
1. Brief exposure to H3-thymidine in vivo labels the secretion which basally renews the stomach teeth of Phyllaplysia taylori. 2. A line of radioactive label migrates from the base of an average stomach tooth to its tip in about 25 days. This indicates daily replacement of about 4.2% of the mean tooth height. 3. There is no autoradiographic evidence of the migration of labeled nuclei into the growing tooth; the label was found in the non-cellular, translucent matrix of the tooth. 4. The nature of the labeling is not clear. The incorporation of the label into the tooth matrix, probably mainly composed of chitin, may be as simple as the shunting of labeled acetyl groups into the mucopolysaccharide synthesis. 5. Tooth growth evidently normally exceeds the rapid wear caused by an abrasive diet of diatoms. The size and shape of the teeth is maintained by the milling action of their intermeshing motion.Keywords
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