Morphology of the female reproductive system.

<p>(<b>A</b>) Three ovarioles (ov) attached to the uterus (u). White arrow indicates circumferential muscle fibers surrounding the posteriormost section of the uterus. Tracheal branches (black arrowheads). SEM, scale bar: 0.5 mm. (<b>B, C</b>) Transverse section through the uterus (fragment). Note folded epithelium (ep) lining the uterus (u). Basement lamina (empty arrows), muscle fibers (white arrowheads), tracheal branches (black arrowheads), grooves separating ridges of the epithelium (arrows), black asterisks in (C) indicate argyrophylic material on the cell surface. Boxed fragment in (C) is enlarged in <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0064087#pone-0064087-g002" target="_blank">Figure 2</a>. (B) Semi-thin section stained with methylene blue. (C) Semi-thin section stained with AgNOR technique. LM, scale bar: 24 µm. (<b>D</b>) Basement lamina (bl) supporting epithelial cells (ep) of the uterus. The lamina is penetrated by canals (c) containing tracheal branches (black arrowheads) immersed in filamentous material. TEM, scale bar: 1 µm. (<b>E, F</b>) Apical compartment of an epithelial cell lining the uterus. Note large secretory vacuoles (v), fibro-granular material covering the tips of the microvilli (white asterisk) and an adherens junction (aj) connecting membranes of neighboring cells. Mitochondria (m). TEM, scale bar: 1 µm. (<b>G</b>) Basal compartments of epithelial cells of the uterus. Mitochondria (m), elements of rough endoplasmic reticulum (rer). Note that plasma membranes are folded and closely adjoined. TEM, scale bar: 1 µm.