Squamata is one of the richest and most diverse extant groups. The present study investigates the glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP)-immunopositive elements of five lizard and three snake species; each represents a different family. The study continues our former studies on bird, turtle, and caiman brains. Although several studies have been published on lizards, they usually only investigated one species. Almost no data are available on snakes. The animals were transcardially perfused. Immunoperoxidase reactions were performed with a mouse monoclonal anti-GFAP (Novocastra). The original radial ependymoglia is enmeshed by secondary, non-radial processes almost beyond recognition in several brain areas like in other reptiles. Astrocytes occur but only as complementary elements like in caiman but unlike in turtles, where astrocytes are absent. In most species, extended areas are free of GFAP-a meaningful difference from other reptiles. The predominance of astrocytes and the presence of areas free of GFAP immunopositivity are characteristic of birds and mammals; therefore, they must be apomorphic features of Squamata, which appeared independently from the evolution of avian glia. However, these features show a high diversity; in some lizards, they are even absent. There was no principal difference between the glial structures of snakes and lizards. In conclusion, the glial structure of Squamata seems to be the most apomorphic one among reptiles. The high diversity suggests that its evolution is still intense. The comparison of identical brain areas with different GFAP contents in different species may promote understanding the role of GFAP in neuronal networks. Our findings are in accordance with the supposal based on our previous studies that the GFAP-free areas expand during evolution.

中文翻译：

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鳞状鳞癌中GFAP的分布：扩展的免疫阴性区域，星形胶质细胞，高度多样性及其对进化的影响。

Squamata是现存最丰富和最多样化的群体之一。本研究调查了五个蜥蜴和三个蛇物种的神经胶质纤维酸性蛋白（GFAP）-免疫阳性元件。每个代表一个不同的家庭。该研究继续了我们先前对鸟类，乌龟和凯门鳄大脑的研究。尽管已经发表了有关蜥蜴的几项研究，但它们通常只研究一种。几乎没有蛇的数据。对动物进行心脏灌注。用小鼠单克隆抗GFAP（Novocastra）进行免疫过氧化物酶反应。原始的径向室间隔被继发性，非径向性的过程所包裹，几乎在其他爬行动物等几个大脑区域都无法识别。星形胶质细胞只作为互补元件存在，就像在凯门鳄中一样，但是与在没有星形胶质细胞的乌龟中不同。在大多数物种中，扩展区域没有GFAP-与其他爬行动物的显着差异。星形胶质细胞占优势，无GFAP免疫阳性区域的存在是鸟类和哺乳动物的特征。因此，它们必须是鳞状鳞茎的无性形态特征，独立于禽胶质细胞的进化而出现。但是，这些功能显示出很高的多样性。在一些蜥蜴中，它们甚至不存在。蛇和蜥蜴的神经胶质结构没有主要区别。总之，Squamata的神经胶质结构似乎是爬行动物中最无形的一种。高多样性表明它的进化仍然很激烈。不同物种中具有不同GFAP含量的相同大脑区域的比较可能会促进对GFAP在神经元网络中的作用的了解。