Argentaffine Cells in the Digestive Tract of Hibernating and Non-hibernating in Chinese Fire-bellied Newt (Cynops orientalis)

In order to further studying the relationship between the gastrointestinal endocrine cells and the hibernation of Chinese fire-bellied newt, histological techniques were used in this study to explore the distributed density and morphology of argentaffine cells in the digestive tract during hibernation and non-hibernation. The argentaffine cells could be observed throughout the digestive tract of Chinese fire-bellied newt during hibernation and non-hibernation and mainly distributed in the acinar epithelial cells, epithelial cells and intrinsic membrane. They had appeared in the shape of goblet, pyramid, ellipse, round, cone-shaped, spindle-shaped. The cytoplasm contains secretory granules at the basal regions with spherical nuclei in the basal regions. Most of them had processes in different directions, suggesting that the argentaffine cells have combined the function of endocrine and exocrine. The distribution density curves of argentaffine cells were generally wavelike during the two periods. It was highest in the body of stomach in hibernation, while in nonhibernation it was highest in the pyloric. Totally the density of argentaffine cells was higher in hibernation period than that in nonhibernation period. The results showed that the activity of the digestive tract was expectedly weakened during the hibernation, but the function of endocrine was actually strengthened.