FINE STRUCTURE OF WOUND REPAIR IN AN INSECT (RHODNIUS PROLIXUS)

The cells surrounding a wound in the integument of Rhodnius adults show an increase in RNA content, cytochrome oxidase and esterase activity. An excision in the integument is filled by blood which coagulates and is tanned into an insoluble membrane. The basement membrane of the adjoining epidermis acts as a self‐sealing membrane and contracts to cover the excision. The epidermis is attached to the cuticle by the subcuticular layer which it resorbs and by pore canal filaments which are left behind as it migrates. The epidermis migrates as a sheet in contact with the cuticle then with the coagulated blood and basement membrane which cover the excision. Blood cells migrate individually into an excision and do not adhere to a surface in the process. Microtubules cannot be identified with movement. Both epidermal and blood cells remove the cells killed by wounding as evidenced by the appearance of coated vesicles and phagocytic bodies in both cell types. The reconstituted integument consists of a surface membrane in which the layers of the epicuticle are not distinguishable, a nonlamellate cuticle secreted by an epidermis which also appears to secrete the new basement membrane. Copyright © 1968 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.