Abstract
By soaking in several organic solvents, and by the application of the protease-Nile blue sulphate technique devised recently by the present author, the ingredients contained in the Golgi apparatus of the hepatic cells, the pancreatic acinar cells in the mouse (Mus musculus) and in that of the spinal ganglion cells in the Guinea pig (Cavia cobaya) were examined for their properties of solubility. The dissected tissues were all fixed in formol and were cut using freezing microtome. These section were submitted to the following procedures respectively.
For the hepatic cells, the sections were soaked in the organic solvents and were digested in 0.3% pepsin solution which was slightly acidified with hydrochloric acid (pepsin technique). The section of the pancreas and those of the spinal ganglion were, after the lipoid extraction in the organic solvents, digested in 0.3% trypsin solution alkalized by the addition of sodium carbonate (trypsin technique). Following these procedures the sections were stained in 0.01% aqueous solution of Nile blue sulphate. They were mounted in saturated aqueous solution of saccharose. The data obtained through these experiments are summarized as follows.
(1) The Golgi substance of the hepatic cells of the mouse can be disclosed either by the pepsin or by the trypsin technique (cf. Fig. 1 to Figs. 2 and 3). It still continues to possess the original morphology after soaking in aceton, chloroform and in ether and subsequent digestion with pepsin (Fig. 4), whereas it is entirely dissolved away by the combined procedure with aceton and trypsin solution (Fig. 5).
(2) The Golgi substance of the pancreatic acinar cells is demonstrable by the trypsin technique (cf. Figs. 6-7). The pepsin solution is not suitable for this case, because it does not digest the protein comprising the cytoplasm, the diffuse staining of which makes the identification of the Golgi apparatus difficult. After the combination procedure with aceton and trypsin solution the Golgi apparatus remains appearing as slender net works (Fig. 8). Alcohol and trypsin solution dissolve the Golgi substance entirely (Fig. 9).
(3) In the case of the spinal ganglion cells the Golgi substance behaves quite similarly to that of the hepatic cells (Figs. 10, 11 and 12).
The conclusion which can be drawn from the data above summarized is that the ground matrix constructing the Golgi apparatus is, as a general rule, a protein digestible with trypsin and a lipoid soluble in aceton. This property of lipoid contradicts the general supposition that the lipoid component does not contain lecithin. Though such being the general rule, the ingredients of the Golgi substance can vary as the kind of the tissue differs. In the present experiment one such instance can be seen in the case of pancreatic acinar cells, the Golgi apparatus of which contains a small amount of lecithin, while those of others do not.
