Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science, Vol s3-97, 369-377, Copyright © 1956 by Company of Biologists

The Morphology and Origin of the Golgi Bodies and their Role in the Secretion of the Acrosome in the Spermatogenesis of Pulmonate Gastropods as Determined in the Living Material by Phase-contrast Microscopy

¹ Department of Zoology, Panjab University, Hoshiarpur, Panjab, India

In this paper are embodied our observations on the morphology, origin, and role of the Golgi bodies in the spermatogenesis of the slug, Anadenus altivagus, and the snail, Euaustenia cassida. Living cells have been studied under the phase-contrast microscope and photomicrographed. In the juxta-nuclear Golgi region in primary spermatocytes the Golgi bodies exist in the form of (1) granules and rods of dark contrast, (2) spheres of pale contrast, and (3) spheroids showing a duplex structure, each consisting of a sphere of pale contrast and an incomplete or complete cortex or sheath of dark contrast. The Golgi spheroids have been shown to arise three times in the course of spermatogenesis from the mitochondrial granules by a process of alignment. The acrosome is formed from a cap of tiny acrosomal granules, which are deposited in front of the spermatid nucleus by the Golgi bodies (acroblasts).