Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol s2-85, 1-71, Copyright © 1944 by Company of Biologists

Memoirs: The Structure and Chemical Composition of the Golgi Element

¹ Department of Zoology and Comparative Anatomy, Oxford

Structure

1. Reasons are given for believing that the methods used to produce the classical Golgi network cannot be relied upon to give an accurate picture of the structure of the Golgi element during life.

2. In this investigation reliance has been placed chiefly on vital observations and on the results of the formal-sudan-black technique. Sudan black is a colouring agent with an intense affinity for lipoids,¹ whether ‘masked’ or not.

3. The Golgi element was studied in the following cells:

(1) the primary spermatocyte and early spermatid of the common snail, Helix aspersa;

(2) the absorptive cell of the intestinal epithelium of the smooth or common newt, Triturus vulgaris ;

(3) the nerve cell of the anterior mesenteric ganglion of the rabbit, Oryctolagus cuniculus.

4. In its fully developed condition, the Golgi element of diverse cells consists of four parts:

(1) the ‘neutral-red vacuoles’;

(2) the dense lipoid-containing substance, generally in close relation to the vacuoles in the form of strands, ‘lepidosomes’, caps, crescents, rings, or complete investments;

(3) the diffuse lipoid-containing substance, which fills all the space in the Golgi element not occupied by the other constituents;

(4) the Golgi-product, which arises in the vacuoles and is the result of the synthesis achieved by the Golgi element.