HISTOCHEMICAL AND QUANTITATIVE STUDY OF THE CLOACAL GLANDS OF TRITURUS-MARMORATUS MARMORATUS (AMPHIBIA, SALAMANDRIDAE)

The cloacal glands of the male marbled newt Triturus marmoratus were s tudied during winter and summer by histochemical and quantitative hist ologic methods. Four types of glands were distinguished: pelvic, dorsa l, ventral, and Kingsbury's glands. The pelvic and dorsal glands have an eosinophilic epithelium and secrete neutral mucins. The ventral and Kingsbury's glands have a basophilic epithelium and secrete acid muci ns. The lectin-histochemical characterization of the carbohydrates sec reted by the four gland types revealed that the secretion of both the pelvic and Kingsbury's glands contain beta-GalNAc in the peripheral re gion of the oligosaccharide, and that the dorsal glands secrete a glyc oprotein with alpha-GalNAc. The ventral gland sections did not react t o any of the lectins used here. The quantitative study revealed that t he cloaca undergoes seasonal variations in volume, being significantly larger in winter than in summer. The total volume occupied by both th e pelvic and ventral glands, as well as their tubular diameter, are al so significantly greater in winter, while these parameters do not vary in dorsal and Kingsbury's glands. No seasonal differences were observ ed in the height of the epithelium in any gland.