| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS | 第5-11页 |
| ABSTRACT | 第11-15页 |
| List of Abbreviations | 第16-20页 |
| CHAPTER 1 Introduction | 第20-22页 |
| 1 The need for studying the interstitial cells of Cajal in oviduct | 第20-21页 |
| 2 Research goals | 第21-22页 |
| CHAPTER 2 Literature Review | 第22-52页 |
| Part-Ⅰ The female reproductive system | 第22-24页 |
| 1 The anatomy of chicken female reproductive system | 第22-23页 |
| 2 Role of chicken oviduct in egg(yolk)pick-up | 第23-24页 |
| Part-Ⅱ The Motility of the Oviduct | 第24-32页 |
| 1 The cellular/structural bases of oviduct motility | 第24-29页 |
| 2 Molecular modulators of oviduct motility | 第29-32页 |
| PART-Ⅲ Interstitial cells of Cajal(ICC) as the regulators of the smooth muscle motility | 第32-43页 |
| 1 Brief history of Interstitial cells of Cajal | 第32-33页 |
| 2 Embryological origin of interstitial cells of Cajal | 第33-34页 |
| 3 Morphology and ultrastructure of the interstitial cells of Cajal(ICC) | 第34-35页 |
| 4 The peripheral relations of Interstitial Cells of Cajal | 第35-39页 |
| 5 The evidence for the involvement of ICC in neurotransmission | 第39-41页 |
| 6 ICC as the targets of female reproductive hormones | 第41-42页 |
| 7 The transcriptional profiling of interstitial cells of Cajal | 第42-43页 |
| REFERENCES | 第43-52页 |
| CHAPTER 3 Identification and Ultrastructural Characterization of Interstitial Cells of Cajal in Chicken Oviduct | 第52-70页 |
| 1 Materials and Methods | 第54-55页 |
| 1.1 Ethical Approval | 第54页 |
| 1.2 Experimental birds | 第54页 |
| 1.3 Sample collection and TEM processing | 第54-55页 |
| 2 Results | 第55-64页 |
| 2.1 General Characteristics of Interstitial Cells of Cajal (ICC) in chicken oviduct | 第55-56页 |
| 2.2 The ultrastructure of ICC in chicken oviduct | 第56-64页 |
| 3 Discussion | 第64-68页 |
| REFERENCES | 第68-70页 |
| CHAPTER 4 The Expression of c-Kit mRNA in Chicken Oviduct | 第70-80页 |
| 1 Materials and Methods | 第71-75页 |
| 1.1 Ethical approval | 第71页 |
| 1.2 Experimental birds | 第71页 |
| 1.3 Sterilization of glass-ware and plastic-ware | 第71-72页 |
| 1.4 Total RNA extraction | 第72页 |
| 1.5 Complimentary DNA (cDNA) construction | 第72-73页 |
| 1.6 Real-Time Quantitative Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-qPCR) | 第73-74页 |
| 1.7 Statistical analysis | 第74-75页 |
| 2 Results | 第75页 |
| 3 Discussion | 第75-77页 |
| REFERENCES | 第77-80页 |
| CHAPTER 5 Histochemical Localization of Nitric Oxide Synthase Positive Nerves in Chicken Oviduct | 第80-96页 |
| 1 Materials and Methods | 第82-83页 |
| 1.1 Ethical approval | 第82页 |
| 1.2 Experimental birds | 第82页 |
| 1.3 Sample collection and preparation | 第82页 |
| 1.4 Histochemical labeling for NOS positive nerves | 第82-83页 |
| 2 Results | 第83-91页 |
| 3 Discussion | 第91-93页 |
| REFERENCES | 第93-96页 |
| CHAPTER 6 Histochemical Localization of Acetylcholinesterase Positive Nerves in Chicken Oviduct | 第96-108页 |
| 1 Materials and Methods | 第98-99页 |
| 1.1 Ethical approval | 第98页 |
| 1.2 Experimental birds | 第98页 |
| 1.3 Sample collection and preparation | 第98页 |
| 1.4 Histochemical labeling for acetylcholinesterase (AChE) positive nerves | 第98-99页 |
| 2 Results | 第99-103页 |
| 3 Discussion | 第103-105页 |
| REFERENCES | 第105-108页 |
| CHAPTER 7 Observations on the Localization of Interstitial Cells of Cajal,and Nitric Oxide Synthase and Acetylcholinesterase Positive nerves in Goat Oviductal Isthmus and Comparison with the Chicken Oviduct | 第108-126页 |
| 1 Materials and methods | 第111-112页 |
| 1.1 Experimental animals | 第111页 |
| 1.2 Sample collection and preparation for transmission electron microscopy | 第111页 |
| 1.3 Sample collection and preparation for nitric oxide synthase and acetylcholinesterase histochemistry | 第111-112页 |
| 2 Results | 第112-121页 |
| 2.1 The identification of interstitial cells of Cajal in goat oviductal isthmus | 第112-116页 |
| 2.2 Histochemical localization of nitric oxide synthase positive nerves in goat oviductal isthmus | 第116-119页 |
| 2.3 Histochemical localization of acetylcholinesterase positive nerves in goat oviductal isthmus | 第119-121页 |
| 3 Discussion | 第121-124页 |
| REFERENCES | 第124-126页 |
| Summary | 第126-128页 |
| Conclusion | 第128-130页 |
| Innovation | 第130-132页 |
| Future Research Directions | 第132-134页 |
| PUBLICATIONS | 第134页 |
