The cryptonephridial system in the mealworm Tenebrio molitor: transport of radioactive potassium, thallium and sodium; a functional and structural study.

Larvae of the mealworm Tenebrio molitor were injected with radioactive potassium, sodium or thallium solution. It was found that the rectal complex of the animal was labelled with potassium and thallium, but not with sodium. Potassium and thallium labelled the complex to the same level as if the two ions were tracers for each other. Ramsay has found that potassium is actively transported to the complex from the hemocoel and there are reasons to believe that T1+ follows the same pathway. Therefore animals injected with thallium were investigated both by light and electron microscopy. The results suggest that thallium spreads from the hemocoel through the leptophragma to the neighbouring ordinary tubular cells, and in moist mealworms thallium is further found in the perirectal space. Due to diffusion and washing out of thallium during fixation it can not be determined whether T1+ and K+ follow identical pathways, but it is possible to determine how far thallium has penetrated during the experiments.