Blood cleansing in heart atrium of Trichogaster leerii (Bleeker, 1852), Anabantidae: Teleostei

摘要

The capability and capacity of endocardial tissue in heart of Trichogaster leerii (Pearl gourami) to take up intraperitoneally injected horse-spleen ferritin and the regular content of indigestible wastes in this tissue are described. The entire heart wall was spongy composed of muscle trabeculae enveloped by flat endocardial cells. In atrium these cells were filled by Prussian blue precipitations in sections treated with acid ferrocyanide, when the period of time between ferritin-injection and sacrifice was 6 h or more. The endocardial cell layers enveloping the muscle trabeculae in ventricle or covering the wall and valves of the ventricular apertures nearly lacked such precipitations. Those endocardial cell layers capable to endocytose much foreign ferritin, also reacted strongly with Schmorl’s solution in control hearts, i.e. these atrial cells are normally rich in indigestible wastes, probably lipofuscin. We suggest that the endocytic and lipofuscin-rich endocardial cells in heart atrium may play a role in the blood clearance in T. leerii and that this cleansing in heart is restricted to atrium only in this species.