Fig. 8. (A) Mesos layer (m) showing somewhat disorganized bilayer structures in the intercellular spaces (arrows) in pre-shed skin sampled on the day of hatching. (B) High magnification ultrastructure of the layer in pre-shed skin of same hatchling showing a desmosome (d) and lamellar lipid inclusions (ll) in the outer (a) layer. Such an abundance of lipid is not seen in the section of inner cells (ia), shown here, which exhibits an abundance of membrane structures resembling trans-Golgi (RuO₄ post-fixation). Scale bars, 0.1 µm. Inset: a frozen section (10-12 µm) of skin stained with Fat Red-7B showing presence of neutral lipids, but not well demarcated compared to that in Fig. 9 inset of post-shed skin. Scale bar for inset, 10 µm.

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