Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol s3-102, 83-87, Copyright © 1961 by Company of Biologists

A Comparative Histochemical Study of the ‘Golgi Apparatus’

¹ Cytological Laboratory, Department of Zoology, Oxford

The purpose of this investigation was to find out the responses of Golgi's net in the neurones of vertebrates to various dyes and histochemical reagents, and to compare these responses with those given by the ‘dictyosomes’ of the cells of invertebrates. Dictyosomes are regarded by many cytologists as the homologue of Golgi's net. The young oocyte of Limnaea stagnalis was chosen as a cell that possesses typical dictyosomes, which have recently been examined by histochemical methods.

The object that presents the characteristic Golgi pictures in the neurones of vertebrates is essentially different, not only in ultrastructure but also in its chemical composition, from those that represent in life the ‘dictyosomes’ of invertebrates. The dictyosomes of the oocyte react positively to tests for phospholipid and cerebroside, whereas Golgi's net is negative to these tests. Tests for arginine and for ribonucleic acid are positive for Golgi's net, but not for the dictyosomes of the oocyte. The dictyosomes are intensely stained by Rawitz's inversion staining technique and also by acid fuchsine (Metzner) and by iron haematoxylin, but these techniques do not show the net in the neurones of vertebrates. Golgi's net is resistant to embedding in paraffin after fixation in Clarke's (Carnoy's) fluid, but the dictyosomes are not. Neutral red is taken up during life by the object representing the dictyosomes, but not by the net of Golgi.