MeHg Causes Ultrastructural Changes in Mitochondria and Autophagy in the Spinal Cord Cells of Chicken Embryo

Figure 5

Autophagic vacuoles in spinal cord of MeHg-treated embryos. Cells in mantle layer show autophagic vacuoles in different stages of autolysis (a–h). Plasma membranes delimit the cells (black arrow) and inner membranes delimit compartments similar to autophagic vacuoles (white arrowhead). Mitochondria (M) with IMM () and EMM () still preserved, inside early autophagic vacuole (a-b, d). Later autophagic vacuoles with amorphous (am), homogeneous, and more electron-dense content (a, c, g, h). (a) Spinal cord cells in lower magnification. (b) Magnification of the cell inside of the white box in (a). (c) Magnification of the cell inside the black box in (a). (d) Magnification of the autophagic vacuoles of the black dotted box in (b). (e) Spinal cord mantle layer cells. In the white dotted box, there is a cell in autophagy. (f) Magnification of the cell in the death process inside the white dotted box in (e). (g) Cell with amorphous and more electron dense cytoplasm in white dashed box. (h) Magnification of the highlighted cell in (g). Axon (ax) of neuronal cell in transverse section, chromatin (cr), nucleus (N), and nucleolus (nl). Scale bars: (a, e) 2 μm; (b) 1.0 μm; (c) 0.5 μm; (d,f) 0.2 μm.

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