[Ciliogenesis in the mucous cells of the quail oviduct. I. Ultrastructural study in the laying quail]

Abstract

The luminal epithelium of the oviduct (magnum) of laying quails [Coturnix coturnix japonica] is composed of ciliated cells and mucus cells. Ciliogenesis was observed in some of the mucus cells. Both centrioles of the diplosome migrate to the top of the cell, and one of them induces the formation of a rudimentary cilium. In some of the other cells that are filled with mucus granules, the formation of basal bodies by an acentriolar pathway was observed. In these cells, numerous, dense fibrous masses are associated with the forming face of the Golgi apparatus. In the Golgi zone, generative complexes composed of a deuterosome and some forming procentrioles were found. Cilia develop from completed basal bodies. During ciliogenesis, the Golgi apparatus is disorganized, and generally the production of mucus granules is arrested. The nucleus is also modified; it becomes larger and the chromatin is dispersed. Mucus cells are apparently able to be transformed into ciliated cells in the oviduct of laying quails.