Tail muscle hydrolases during metamorphosis of the anuran tadpole. I. Histochemical studies.

Naphthylamidase, beta-glucuronidase and trimetaphosphatase have been studied histochemically in the tail muscles of Rana catesbeiana, Rana japonica and Xenopus laevis tadpoles. During the early stages of growth, tadpole tail muscles showed very low activity of these hydrolases, whereas during the prometamorphic and metamorphic stages, they exhibited a marked increase in enzyme activity. This was localized in the subepidermal and subnotochordal mesenchymous tissue and in the myoseptum, i.e. between the muscle bundles.