Studies Attempting to Elucidate the in Vivo Function(s) of Grace’s Antheraea eucalypti Cell Strains

Abstract

Diapause ovarioles of giant silkmoth pupae contain cells that continuously multiply in vitro in Grace’S lines and clones (Grace, 1962; 1968). Histochemical evidence for the thesis that the continuously multiplying cells originate from a so-called intermediate layer is based mainly on the presence of periodic acid Schiff reaction positive (PAS+) and paraldehyde-fuchsin reaction positive (PAF+) granules found in the migrating cells in primary culture (White, 1965; White and Larsen, 1966). Such granules are not found consistently in other diapause ovariole cell types in the intact silkmoth ovary. Trager (1935), Jones and Cunningham (1961), Martignoni (1963), Krause et al. (4966) and Stanley and Vaughn (1968) have also reported different types of evidence for the intermediate layer being the source of migrating cells in cultures of both pupal and late larval silkworm ovaries.