Ultrastructural development of the neurohemal organ joined to the ecdysial gland after imaginal moulting in the male isopod Sphaeroma serratum Fab. (Crustacea Flabellifera).

The present ultrastructural study deals with the lateral cephalic nerve plexus of Sphaeroma serratum, a neurohemal organ joined to the Y organ (ecdysial gland). This plexus acts as a storage centre for neurosecretory products from two sources: the two autochtonous cells (plexus cells) within the plexus itself, and the neurosecretory cells in various parts of the central nervous system, particulary the "mandibular ganglion" (A-cells). In prepuberal animals, plexus cells and subesophageal A-cells produce neurosecretory granules of two types measuring 1550 +/- 50 A and 1570 +/- 40 A respectively. Five categories of axon terminals were distinguished in the plexus. The granules found in two of these terminal types are believed to come from the plexus cells and from the "mandibular ganglion" A-cells. Cessation of production of neurosee plexus with concomitant depletion and disappearance of different granule categories. The first axon terminals affected by this process are the two categories containing granules originating in the plexus and "mandibular ganglion" A-cells. Degeneration of the ecdysial gland in male Sphaeroma serratum might be connected with the cessation of granule formation in these two types of cell.