Histological Structure and Culture of Seta in Vitro of Gecko Foot

Abstract: Histological structures of gecko toe， dyed by hematoxylin-eosin， were observed by an optical microscopy. The hypodermis and epidermis were separated from seta side of the gecko toe， primary culture of the epidermis was carried out in vitro according to the procedure of human epithelium culture and the morphology of cells and their changes were observed under microscopy. The research aims to culture the seta cell in vitro and to explore a new method for manufacturing artificial seta on adhesive pads for gecko-like robot. The histological results showed that epidermal cell of the gecko toe were composed of multilayer drum-like cell and single layer round cell， the seta were arrayed out from the distal end of the round cell. After separation by trypsogen， the epidermal cell could be classified into two cells. Three cells were not sensitive to the trypsogen. One of them with protuberant on the surface was possible the maturated seta cell， and the other with refringent orbicular-ovate was much possible the seta cell of shedding or apoptosis. The culture results showed that there were five cells in the epidermal layer of gecko foot; one cell was similar to the human malpighian cell and another similar to pigment cell. Other three cells could not be found in human epidermis， we called them as un-defined cell 1， 2 and 3. The un-defined cell 1 looked like human nerve cell， it was supposed to be sensory cell which detected the interaction force between toes and ground. The un-defined cell 2 and 3 were possible seta cells of gecko foot， and the differences in morphology may be corresponding to the cell developmental stage. The un-defined cell 2 was possible setae cell under growth period. The un-defined cell 3 was possible maturated seta cell.

CSTR: 32200.14.cjcb.2009.04.0019