Abstract
The three-dimensional structure of the Golgi apparatus (GA) in mouse pancreatic exocrine cells was studied under an ordinary transmission electron microscope and also a high voltage electron microscope. From observations of thick sections of ZIO (Zinc-Iodide-Osmium solution)-reacted pancreatic tissues, GA was found to be a complex three-dimensional structure with its basic configuration summarized as follows: 1. Golgi cisterna is a long elongated ribbon-like structure and Golgi stack is composed of several ribbon-like cisternae organized from cis to trans. 2. The ribbon-like Golgi stack has wide expanded areas in some portions where it branches into 2 or 3 ribbon-like stacks. 3. The Golgi stack often shows a huge circular arrangement, about 10μm in diameter, maintaining the polarity from cis to trans. 4. In some portions the direction of polarity of the stack changes: the Golgi stack in some parts rotates in the long expanding direction (X axis) maintaining each cisternal continuity. 5. According to the observations of 1μm thick serial sections, the continuity and polarity of the Golgi stack are maintained three-dimensionally (X, Y and Z axes) and GA, as a whole, was found to be one huge continuous reticular organelle in the cell.
