Abstract
Spermatids of the snail Helix aspersa were studied after fixation in buffered osmium tetroxide and after applying Novikoff and Goldfischer's method (15) for demonstrating thiamine pyrophosphatase (TPPase) activity both with the light and the electron microscope. The appearance of cells in the light microscope after localizing the enzyme is very similar to the appearance after the application of classical Golgi techniques. The electron microscope shows the "dictyosomes" to consist of non-granular membranes, vesicles, and vacuoles typical of the ultrastructure of the Golgi apparatus. Sites of TPPase activity are localized by deposits of lead phosphate, and are found between the membranes of the Golgi apparatus, in the small vesicles, in multivesicular bodies often found associated with it, but not within the large Golgi vacuoles. Heavy deposits are found on the caudal part of the nuclear envelope, but not in the acrosomal granule. It is suggested that TPPase may act as an intermediary in acrosome formation by the Golgi apparatus or "acroblast" of this cell. The finding of diphosphatase activity in the Golgi apparatus of an invertebrate is suggested as additional evidence for the existence of a homology between the Golgi apparatus of all animal cells.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.3 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- NOVIKOFF A. B., GOLDFISCHER S. Nucleosidediphosphatase activity in the Golgi apparatus and its usefulness for cytological studies. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1961 Jun 15;47:802–810. doi: 10.1073/pnas.47.6.802. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- ROQUE A. L. The morphology of the cytoplasmic inclusions of the living spermatocytes, spermatids, and neurones of Helix as revealed by phase-contrast and interference microscopy and by supravital dyes. J R Microsc Soc. 1954 Sep-Dec;74(3-4):188–206. doi: 10.1111/j.1365-2818.1954.tb01004.x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]