Secretory cells in Piper umbellatum (Piperaceae) leaves: A new example for the development of idioblasts

This work aims to investigate the origins and development of secretory cells in Piper umbellatum (L.) Miq. (Piperaceae) leaves as well as the course and the nature of their secretion. The results were compared with studies in oil-secreting cells of several species. Fully expanded fresh leaves were sectioned and subjected to different histochemical tests. Leaves in different developmental stages were fixed and processed for study under light and scanning and transmission electron microscopy techniques. The secretory cells show mixed secretion made up of hydrophobic (oleoresin) and hydrophilic (phenolic compounds and alkaloids) compounds. Secretory cells originate either from the protodermis or the ground meristem. The growth of these cells occurs primarily by increasing the volume of the central vacuole, which corresponds to an extraplasmatic space connected to a protuberance of the wall. Electron-opaque compounds are observed initially in leucoplasts, while electron-dense compounds occur in small vesicles in the cytoplasm. Both are accumulated in the central vacuole which is already developed. Besides the mixed chemical nature of the secretion identified in secretory cells of P. umbellatum leaves, these secretory cells differ from those that have already been described mainly because of the development of the central vacuole prior to the accumulation of the secretion.