Abstract
Micrurgical studies were made on the Golgi complex in the living cultured cells under the phase microscope. The Golgi complex, which is a cluster of filamentous or membranous elements with illdefined contour in the living cell, increases in contrast as the nuclear membrane, nucleolus, mitochondria and the other cytoplasmic inclusions accentuate visibility, when death changes are elicited by severely injuring the cell. The Golgi complex then appears like a cluster of phase-dark threads which entirely fill up the Golgi area. These threads are optical sections of membranous structures, most of which are arranged parallel to the nuclear membrane and are seemingly anastomosed with one another with processes.
Micro-operations could be made on cells wh i c h were assuredly living during the course of treatment in view of their appearance under phase contrast and of their reaction to stimuli. The operations with the tip of a microneedle of gently stirring the Golgi area, of providing a scar in the same area, and of introducing a lipid droplet in and out of, the Golgi area prove that the ground substance in which the Golgi complex is embedded is of the same physical state as the general cytoplasm, i. e., it is like a soft jelly in consistency, and that the Golgi lamellae are not fragile but flexible and elastic ones.
