Morphological organisation of the digestive tract in the stream catfish Pseudecheneis sulcatus (McClelland)

Abstract

We describe the histological organisation and mucin content in the digestive tract of the stream catfish Pseudecheneis sulcatus. The aim is to find the modifications of the digestive tract in relation to food resources of its habitat. The oesophageal mucosa consists of stratified squamous epithelium with many mucous-secreting cells. The thick muscularis contains an inner longitudinal and outer circular, striated muscle cells. The stomach is J-shaped and shows 6–7 thick mucosal folds that are separated from the submucosa by an organised muscularis mucosae. The mucosa consists of superficial cells with mucin granules, and deeper simple tubular gastric glands in cardia and fundus, but absent in pyloric region. The glandular epithelium shows oxynticopeptic cells containing zymogen granules and abundant tubulo-vesicular bodies. We provide evidence that the latter arise by budding from smooth endoplasmic reticulum and reach the apical cytoplasm. The anterior intestine shows longer mucosal folds with goblet cells (GC). GC are more in the posterior intestine and highest in the rectum. Myenteric neurons with myelinated and non-myelinated axons innervate the intrinsic musculature from stomach to rectum. Many stem cells are evident in the basal intestinal epithelium. They show darker nuclei and undifferentiated organelles. Mucin histochemistry reveals the predominance of neutral mucin (PAS⁺ positive) from oesophagus to rectum, and neutral and acidic mucin (alcian blue⁺, pH 2.5) in the posterior intestine to the rectum, with few GC colocalizing both. Ultrastructural features suggest that the species is adapted to omnivory and this is reflected in the predominance of neutral mucin in the digestive tract.