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Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol s3-103, 543-548, Copyright © 1962 by Company of Biologists
1 Department of Histology and Embryology, Medical University, Budapest; and the Morphological Department of the Institute for Experimental Medicine of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences
The number and size of the vacuoles in the retinal clubs of the eye of Dendrocoelum lacteum increase considerably in animals kept in darkness. As a consequence, the volume of the whole retinal club enlarges, the microvilli forming its marginal zone becoming shorter and thicker. When exposed to light, the retinal clubs regain their original structure; the number and size of the vacuoles diminish and the zone of the microvilli widens. These structural changes are interpreted as due to a photosensitive substance which is produced in the axial cytoplasm of the club, stored in vacuoles and disintegrated by light in the zone of the microvilli.