Ovarian structural specializations facilitate aplacental matrotrophy inJenynsia lineata (cyprinodontiformes, osteichthyes)

Jenynsia lineata retains its embryos within the ovarian cavity for a prolonged gestation. In the absence of egg envelopes, maternal-embryonic transfer occurs through ovarian fluid across apposed epithelia, relatively lining the ovarian lumen and the surface of the embryos. There are no hypertrophied extraembryonic structures that could provide expanded exchange surfaces for the passage of nutrients beyond the 8-mm stage, but structural specializations of the ovary then form, and these may sustain embryogenesis. Outgrowths of the inner lining of the ovary, villi ovariales, enter the pharyngeal cavity of the embryos via an opercular cleft remaining from early stages of development, after depletion of yolk reserves, until shortly before term. The ovary and its villi are lined by a monolayer of squamous cells showing evidence of vesicular transport of macromolecular substances both on the apical surface and at the basolateral pole. It serves for transcellular passage of maternally derived substances rather than as a source of secretory products. Most adjacent cells interdigitate, and the epithelium is continuous except for few gaps at the villous tips, which allow paracellular passage of particulate matter. These epithelial cells contain abundant filaments, electron-dense granules within the cytoplasm and the nucleus, sparse elements of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, a Golgi apparatus, and different sorts of vacuoles. The capillaries in the intraovarian lining are spaced most densely at the ovarian wall, less so toward the tips of the villi. The villi ovariales contain a network of connective tissue that forms endotheliumlike septa, which divide the interior into numerous different-sized loculi.