Immunoreactivity to calcium-binding proteins (cabps) in the epithelia of skin and gill of the catfish, heteropneustes fossilis

Abstract

The skin and gill epithelia of Heteropneustes fossilis have been shown to possess specific patterns of immunoreactivity for the an-tisera against a set of calcium-binding proteins such as calmod-ulin, parvalbumin, S-100 protein, and calbindin D28K. In the epidermis, both the more superficial cells and the club cells reacted positively for all the calcium-binding proteins tested, except for calbindin D28K in the former and for parvalbumin in the latter. As in the club cells of the epidermis, also in the gill all the calcium-binding protein antisera, except anti-parvalbumin, appear to stain neuroendocrine cells scattered throughout these epithelia. The co-localization of a serotonin reactivity in the S-100 protein positive cells confirms the qualification of these branchial cells as being of the neuroendocrine type. © 1998 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.