Towards a comprehensive model of feather regeneration.

Understanding of the regeneration of feathers, despite a 140 year tradition of study, has remained substantially incomplete. Moreover, accumulated errors and mis-statements in the literature have confounded the intrinsic difficulties in describing feather regeneration. Lack of allusion to Rudall's (Rudall [1947] Biochem Biophys Acta 1:549-562) seminal X-ray diffraction study that revealed two distinct keratins, beta- and alpha-, in a mature feather, is one of the several examples where lack of citation long inhibited progress in understanding.

First evidence of unicellular glands in the general epidermis of terrestrial reptiles.

The general integument of reptiles is traditionally defined as being dry, but we report here the discovery of unicellular mucoid glands (UCMG) in the dorsal skin of lizards of the genus Phelsuma (Gekkonidae). To this end, the skin of these lizards and of some others for comparison was studied by scanning electron microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. These photographs showed that the development and function of the UCMGs are related to the skin's sloughing cycle.