Primi risultati dello studio istochimico del tegumento degli anfibi mediante inclusione in resine polari.

The skin of amphibians is a complex, elaborate, dynamic and highly organized structure; the structure is similar in the major groups of amphibians. When on land amphibians usually loose water, mainly by evaporation through the skin; when in water they face the opposite problem: excessive water uptake. There are differences among species in their tolerance of water gain and loss through the skin, that relate to habits and/or habitat, so morphological and functional specialization can be expected in the skin organization. We used polar resin embedding to apply histochemical and morphological stains to semithin (2.5 μm) sections of the skin of various amphibian (both Urodela and Anura). Here we report some results on the skin of permanently aquatic amphibians, and compare them to the skin of really amphibious living and of species living on land.