Immunohistochemical study of the glial fibrillary acidic protein in the brain of the developing and adult skink Chalcides chalcides.

The present immunohistochemical study reports the distribution of the glia in the brain of the skink Chalcides chalcides by revelation of the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), specific marker of the glial cells. In adult skink, GFAP immunopositive structures are abundant and mainly represented by fibers of different length and size. They appear fewer in the telencephalon but numerous in the other regions as in the cerebellum, in the diencephalon and in the medulla oblungata. Radial glia is the glial type more abundant. It is much expressed in the cerebellum and around the third ventricle, instead the astrocytes appear few and limited in particular in the cerebellum and in the medulla oblongata. In embroys, the formation of all these structures, very defined and recognizable, is observed only in those next to the birth, at the embryonic stages 39-40, but yet at E32 rade fibers GFAP immunopositive are revealed in the diencephalon and in the medulla oblongata. This study shows that the occurrence and the distribution of the glia in Chalchides is similar to that just reported in other Squamata.