| Hynobius maoershanens belongs to Hynobiidae, and is endemic to Maoershan Natural Reserve in Guangxi Province, China. It is restrictedly inhabited in alpine swamp at an altitude of 2,000 m with a small population size. We investigated the histological structure of liver, using anatomical methods and paraffin sectioning technique. The total length, head length, head width, tail length, body weight and liver weight were measured. An Olympus BX-63 automatic fluorescence microscope was used to analyze the liver histological structure. The results showed that the histological structure of the liver in H. maoershanensis was similar to that of other amphibians, which could be divided into the right and left lobe (Fig. 1a). Glisson capsule, central veins, portal areas and hepatic cells constituted the liver structure (Fig. 2a, b). The hepatocyte cords were arranged in an indistinct radial pattern around the central vein (Fig. 2c, d). Moreover, interlobular veins, bile ducts in portal areas were clearly found (Fig. 2e). The boundaries of liver lobules were unclear due to the underdevelopment of connective tissues (Fig. 2c-g). Many brown-black melanin granules could be seen in liver parenchyma (Fig. 2a, b). Our findings suggest that the brown-black melanin granules in the liver parenchyma of H. maoershanensis might be an adaptation to the low-oxygen environment. |
