Studies on the mucosubstances elaborated by female duct of a land pulmonate Semperula maculata in seasonal breeding-aestivation cycle.

With a view to augmenting the understanding of the mucosubstances elaborated by the epithelial gland cells in the female duct of stylommatophoran pulmonate snail in general and finding out the seasonal variations in them during the breeding seasonal cycle of the snails in particular, the female duct mucosubstances were investigated in detail employing recent well-established histochemical techniques. The results showed that the gland cells in the female duct elaborated mucosubstances consisting of neutral mucins, glycogen, weakly sulfated sulfomucins, strongly sulfated sulfomucins and sialomucins. The study of cellular sites of mucosubstance elaboration showed that there are five different types of cells, the first type elaborated neutral mucins, the second weakly sulfated sulfomucins, the third strongly sulfated sulfomucins, the fourth sialomucins and the fifth glycogen. The seasonal variations in the mucosubstances showed that the acidic mucosubstance elaboration begins just before the post-breeding period and reaches a maximum in the pre-breeding season. Cyclic variations not only in the amount of the different mucosubstances but also in the number of cells elaborating them were witnessed in seasonal breeding-aestivation cycle. Since the results appear to indicate that the stages in the maturation of female sex cells in the ovotestis and uterus are closely related to the secretory process of the glandular cells in the female duct in the seasonal reproductive cycle of these snails, the importance of the mucosubstances secreted by the gland cells in the female duct is discussed with reference to the reproductive physiology of the snails.