Academic literature on the topic 'Longitudinal metamorphosis'

The lancelet (amphioxus) performs metamorphosis and produces minute and ciliate pelagic larvae commonly found in other metamorphic marine invertebrates. During larval life and metamorphosis, however, the animal displays interesting combination of features not found in other animals such as long coexistence of ciliate and muscular locomotion and no change in feeding behavior. The uniqueness of lancelet metamorphosis can provide important data to understand the evolutionary history of this animal as well as the metamorphosis broadly appeared in metazoans. Although lancelet metamorphosis has been studied, all previous studies depended on cross-sectional observations. To get serial data on metamorphic events, we performed longitudinal observations on the Japanese lancelet under the culture condition and confirmed the following: (1) there were individual variations of the duration of metamorphosis from 15 to 27 days; (2) growth was arrested for a month and the maximum reduction of the body length (2.2%–3.2%) occurred when gill slits became paired; (3) during rather long duration of metamorphosis, the oral transformation and the division of the gill pores by tongue bar were completed within two to four days. Our observations suggest that the duration and mode of lancelet metamorphosis depend mainly on intrinsic requirements rather than on extrinsic selective pressures.

We have examined the development of innervation to the indirect flight muscles of Drosophila. During metamorphosis, the larval intersegmental nerve of the mesothorax is remodelled to innervate the dorsal longitudinal muscles and two of the dorsoventral muscles. Another modified larval nerve innervates the remaining dorsoventral muscle. The dorsal longitudinal muscles develop using modified larval muscles as templates while dorsoventral muscles develop without the use of such templates. The development of innervation to the two groups of indirect flight muscles differs in spatial and temporal patterns, which may reflect the different ways in which these muscles develop. The identification of myoblasts associated with thoracic nerves during larval life and the association of migrating myoblasts with nerves during metamorphosis indicate the existence of nerve-muscle interactions during indirect flight muscle development. In addition, the developing pattern of axonal branching suggests a role for the target muscles in respecifying neuromuscular junctions during metamorphosis.

The early embryonic development of Hydractinia lasts about 2.5 days until the developing planula larva acquires competence for metamorphosis. Most embryonic cells stop cycling on reaching the larval stage. In older larvae of Hydractinia, cells that are still proliferating occur exclusively in the endoderm in a typical distribution along the longitudinal axis. During metamorphosis, proliferation activity begins again. The number of S-phase cells has increased by the 9th hour after induction of metamorphosis. Proliferative activity starts in the middle gastric region and in basal parts of primary polyps. Tentacles and stolon tips are always free of replicating cells.

The six Dorsal Longitudinal flight Muscles (DLMs) of Drosophila develop from three larval muscles that persist into metamorphosis and serve as scaffolds for the formation of the adult fibers. We have examined the effect of muscle scaffold ablation on the development of DLMs during metamorphosis. Using markers that are specific to muscle and myoblasts we show that in response to the ablation, myoblasts which would normally fuse with the larval muscle, fuse with each other instead, to generate the adult fibers in the appropriate regions of the thorax. The development of these de novo DLMs is delayed and is reflected in the delayed expression of erect wing, a transcription factor thought to control differentiation events associated with myoblast fusion. The newly arising muscles express the appropriate adult-specific Actin isoform (88F), indicating that they have the correct muscle identity. However, there are frequent errors in the number of muscle fibers generated. Ablation of the larval scaffolds for the DLMs has revealed an underlying potential of the DLM myoblasts to initiate de novo myogenesis in a manner that resembles the mode of formation of the Dorso-Ventral Muscles, DVMs, which are the other group of indirect flight muscles. Therefore, it appears that the use of larval scaffolds is a superimposition on a commonly used mechanism of myogenesis in Drosophila. Our results show that the role of the persistent larval muscles in muscle patterning involves the partitioning of DLM myoblasts, and in doing so, they regulate formation of the correct number of DLM fibers.

The meaning of openness in open source is both intrinsically unstable and dynamic, and tends to fluctuate with time and context. We draw on a very particular open-source project primarily concerned with building rigorous clinical concepts to be used in electronic health records called openEHR. openEHR explains how openness is a concept that is purposely engaged with, and how, in this process of engagement, the very meaning of open matures and evolves within the project. Drawing on rich longitudinal data related to openEHR we theorise the evolving nature of openness and how this idea emerges through two intertwined processes of maturation and metamorphosis. While metamorphosis allows us to trace and interrogate the mutational evolution in openness, maturation analyses the small, careful changes crafted to build a very particular understanding of openness. Metamorphosis is less managed and controlled, whereas maturation is representative of highly precise work carried out in controlled form. Both processes work together in open-source projects and reinforce each other. Our study reveals that openness emerges and evolves in open-source projects where it can be understood to mean rigour; ability to participate; open implementation; and an open process. Our work contributes to a deepening in the theorisation of what it means to be an open-source project. The multiple and co-existing meanings of ‘open’ imply that open-source projects evolve in nonlinear ways where each critical meaning of openness causes a reflective questioning by the community of its continued status and existence.

We have followed the pupal development of the indirect flight muscles (IFMs) of Drosophila melanogaster. At the onset of metamorphosis larval muscles start to histolyze, with the exception of a specific set of thoracic muscles. Myoblasts surround these persisting larval muscles and begin the formation of one group of adult indirect flight muscles, the dorsal longitudinal muscles. We show that the other group of indirect flight muscles, the dorsoventral muscles, develops simultaneously but without the use of larval templates. By morphological criteria and by patterns of specific gene expression, our experiments define events in IFM development.

The histology of the nectochaeta larva of the polychaete Sabellaria cementarium Moore and its changes during metamorphosis are described. The epidermis of the nectochaeta consists of five types of cells: locomotory, sensory, pigment, gland, and nonciliated. Setal sacs, containing provisional setae and settling paleae, are located on either side of the body. The muscle system consists of circular and longitudinal trunk muscles and a setal sac – esophageal muscle complex. The alimentary tract consists of an esophagus possessing three types of gland cells, a stomach composed of large vacuolated cells anteriorly and squamous cells containing lipid droplets posteriorly, and an intestine. The nervous system is composed of a cerebral ganglion, circumesophageal connectives, subesophageal ganglia, and paired ventral nerve cords. The blood vascular system consists of supraesophageal, lateral esophageal, dorsal and ventral blood vessels, and dorsal and ventral blood sinuses. Mucous glands are present in the episphere and pygidium and five types of gland cells are found in the parathoracic region. Metamorphosis of the nectochaeta into a sedentary, benthic juvenile involves the following morphological changes: atrophy of prototrochal cells, loss of provisional setae and regional histolysis within the setal sacs, loss of epispheral and pygidial mucous glands, discharge of parathoracic glands that form the mucoid tube, formation of a head coelom, enlargement of cerebral ganglion, histolysis of the setal sac – esophageal muscle complex, and hypertrophy and dissociation of the vacuolated stomach cells.

Pattern formation in muscle development is often mediated by special cells called muscle organizers. During metamorphosis in Drosophila, a set of larval muscles function as organizers and provide scaffolding for the development of the dorsal longitudinal flight muscles. These organizers undergo defined morphological changes and dramatically split into templates as adult fibers differentiate during pupation. We have investigated the cellular mechanisms involved in the use of larval fibers as templates. Using molecular markers that label myoblasts and the larval muscles themselves, we show that splitting of the larval muscles is concomitant with invasion by imaginal myoblasts and the onset of differentiation. We show that the Erect wing protein, an early marker of muscle differentiation, is not only expressed in myoblasts just before and after fusion, but also in remnant larval nuclei during muscle differentiation. We also show that interaction between imaginal myoblasts and larval muscles is necessary for transformation of the larval fibers. In the absence of imaginal myoblasts, the earliest steps in metamorphosis, such as the escape of larval muscles from histolysis and changes in their innervation, are normal. However, subsequent events, such as the splitting of these muscles, fail to progress. Finally, we show that in a mutant combination, null for Erect wing function in the mesoderm, the splitting of the larval muscles is aborted. These studies provide a genetic and molecular handle for the understanding of mechanisms underlying the use of muscle organizers in muscle patterning. Since the use of such organizers is a common theme in myogenesis in several organisms, it is likely that many of the processes that we describe are conserved.

The morphology of an early nectochaete larva belonging to Chrysopetalum sp. is aligned with that of a planktotrophic larva at a crucial stage of benthic settlement: an entire provisional spinose notochaetal scleritome, large episphere with prostomial nascent sensory structures and larval podia and cirri of the anterior two segments in transition. Morphological sequences of post-larvae and juveniles, common to a number of Chrysopetalum species, indicate that long, slender, provisional, camerate notochaetal spines are replaced during metamorphosis and growth with an entire adult, camerate notochaetal scleritome consisting of broad paleae with internal, longitudinal ribs. The Chrysopetalum sp. six segment larva supports achaetous notopodia I and chaetous notopodia II, each with a pair of dorsal cirri, ie. 4 cirri in total; segment II has acirrose neuropodia. Individuals of post-larvae and juvenile Chrysopetalum species, 8–15 segments, possess a total of 6 cirri on segments I and II: segment I with a pair of tentacular dorsal cirri and the formation of a pair of tentacular ventral cirri, and segment II comprising a pair of dorsal cirri, spinous notochaetae and acirrose neuropodia. During metamorphosis the acirrous neuropodia of segment II are reabsorbed and replaced in stages with a pair of ventral tentacular cirri until the adult state is achieved: achaetous segment 1 with two pairs of tentacular cirri and segment II similar, ie. total of 8 cirri. The cirri arrangement of segments I and II before final metamorphosis in post-larval stages of Chrysopetalum species is, interestingly, that described for adults in the majority of other Chrysopetalinae taxa. Ontogenetic developmental processes of formation and loss of acirrose neuropodia and replacement of spinose larval notochaetae with adult paleae observed in Chrysopetalum species are compared with species of other taxa of the Chrysopetalinae.

Stroke is a major cause of disability and death worldwide. Although different clinical studies and trials used Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) to examine patterns of change in different imaging modalities (eg: perfusion and diffusion), we still lack a clear and definite answer to the question: “How does an acute ischemic stroke lesion grow?” The inability to distinguish viable and dead tissue in abnormal MR regions in stroke patients weakens the evidence accumulated to answer this question, and relying on static snapshots of patient scans to fill in the spatio-temporal gaps by “thinking/guessing” make it even harder to tackle. Different opposing observations undermine our understanding of ischemic stroke evolution, especially at the acute stage: viable tissue transiting into dead tissue may be clear and intuitive, however, “visibly” dead tissue restoring to full recovery is still unclear. In this thesis, we search for potential answers to these raised questions from a novel dynamic modelling perspective that would fill in some of the missing gaps in the mechanisms of stroke evolution. We divided our thesis into five parts. In the first part, we give a clinical and imaging background on stroke and state the objectives of this thesis. In the second part, we summarize and review the literature in stroke and medical imaging. We specifically spot gaps in the literature mainly related to medical image analysis methods applied to acute-subacute ischemic stroke. We emphasize studies that progressed the field and point out what major problems remain. Noticeably, we have discovered that macroscopic (imaging-based) dynamic models that simulate how stroke lesion evolves in space and time were completely overlooked: an untapped potential that may alter and hone our understanding of stroke evolution. Progress in the dynamic simulation of stroke was absent –if not inexistent. In the third part, we answer this new call and apply a novel current-based dynamic model âpreviously applied to compare the evolution of facial characteristics between Chimpanzees and Bonobos [Durrleman 2010] – to ischemic stroke. This sets a robust numerical framework and provides us with mathematical tools to fill in the missing gaps between MR acquisition time points and estimate a four-dimensional evolution scenario of perfusion and diffusion lesion surfaces. We then detect two characteristics of patterns of abnormal tissue boundary change: spatial, describing the direction of change –outward as tissue boundary expands or inward as it contracts–; and kinetic, describing the intensity (norm) of the speed of contracting and expanding ischemic regions. Then, we compare intra- and inter-patients estimated patterns of change in diffusion and perfusion data. Nevertheless, topology change limits this approach: it cannot handle shapes with different parts that vary in number over time (eg: fragmented stroke lesions, especially in diffusion scans, which are common). In the fourth part, we suggest a new mathematical dynamic model to increase rigor in the imaging-based dynamic modeling field as a whole by overcoming the topology-change hurdle. Metamorphosis. It morphs one source image into a target one [Trouvé 2005]. In this manuscript, we extend it into dealing with more than two time-indexed images. We propose a novel extension of image-to-image metamorphosis into longitudinal metamorphosis for estimating an evolution scenario of both scattered and solitary ischemic lesions visible on serial MR. It is worth noting that the spatio-temporal metamorphosis we developed is a generic model that can be used to examine intensity and shape changes in time-series imaging and study different brain diseases or disorders. In the fifth part, we discuss our main findings and investigate future directions to explore to sharpen our understanding of ischemia evolution patterns.