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The Gallbladder Of The Electric Ray Torpedo Marmorata Risso Deplays Excrescent Cholecystocytes With Merocrine And Apocrine-Like Secretions, Donald Ott, J Gilloteaux, Carla Oldham-Ott

Donald W. Ott

The gallbladder of Torpedo marmorata exhibits a mucosal surface layer of simple columnar epithelium with very tall cholecystocytes. The apical domain of each cell has few microvilli, but many mucous vesicles that are secreted by exocytosis at the cell apices. The apical regions may also elongate and undergo self-excision while shedding mucus and cell debris into the gallbladder lumen in a manner similar to that described in mammals as a result of sex steroid treatment to induce gallstones and to that found in the cholecystitis associated with cholelithiasis. Numerous small mitochondria, spherical to elongated, are distributed throughout the cells, while …