The Localization of Organically Bound Iodine in the Endostyle of Amphioxus

Abstract

An account is given of some features of the organization of the endostyle of Amphioxus, with particular reference to the distribution of sites of mucus secretion as indicated by positive responses to tests for acid mucopolysaccharides. Autoradiography shows that the centre of distribution of organically-bound iodine is associated with the tips of the mucus-secreting cells of zone 5, and not with the glandular tracts. Mucus secretion also occurs elsewhere in the endostyle (although not in the dorsal glandular tracts), but as it is not associated with any accumulation of bound iodine it is concluded that the binding in zone 5 is a specialized property of the cells of that particular zone. The results are discussed in the light of recent work on the protochordates and the ammocoete larva, and it is concluded that in Amphioxus, as in the Tunicata, there is reason for supposing that the iodination process is a biochemical specialization and that its product must therefore be of some physiological significance to the organism. Attention is also drawn to the evolutionary interest of the association of iodine-binding with a mucin rather than with a glycoprotein.