Author: Findlay E. Russell

Publisher:

Published: 1980

Total Pages: 7

ISBN-13:

During the past two years the principal research under the contract has been directed toward several problems: (1) A continued study of the ultrastructure of the venom apparatus of the stingrays Urobatis halleri and Dasytis sabina, and the scorpionfish Scorpaena Guttata, (2) determination of certain physiopharmacologic changes provoked by the venom of the scorpionfishes, (3) the histology and ultrastructure of skin from the soapfishes, Grammistidae. With respect to current studies on the ultrastructure of the stingray venom apparatus, these have confirmed our earlier observations that the subunit distribution in stingray venom cell microtubules varies considerably within a single vacuole, in marked contrast to the tubulin polymers described as convential cytoplasmic microtubules. The improvement in the methods they developed aided in the definition of these structures in tin sections and permits a more precise estimate of their diameter. While diameters are variable, they are substantially less than estimates for other intracellular microtubules. The chemistry of these microtubules has yet to be determined but by their anomalous location and fine structure it is suggested that they are polymers of non-tubulin protein(s).