No abstract

Osmication in an unbuffered aqueous solution of osmium tetroxide allows the forming face of the Golgi apparatus to be labeled in many cell types. This property was utilized to study the spatial configuration of this organelle by examining stereopairs of the same field taken at 1,000 KV after tilting a thick (1 to 7 pm) section of -7" or + 7 " from the original ( 0 " ) position.When examined in 1 pm thick sections at magnifications ranging from 13,000 to 18,000 times, the osmic acid-impregnated element of the Golgi apparatus of ganglion nerve cells, Leydig cells or Sertoli cells takes the appearance of a single layered polygonal network of tubules. This network can only be seen at electron microscope magnifications and is referred to as the primary network or structure of the forming face of the Golgi apparatus. When 2 to 7 pm thick sections are examined under progressively lower magnifications, the details of the primary structure remain discernible but become less conspicuous. The osmiophilic portion of the Golgi apparatus now extends over large areas of the cytoplasm to form an extensive continuous structure. This structure which is in the range of visibility of the light microscope is referred to as the secondary network or structure of the forming face. In ganglion nerve cells, the secondary structure consists of a perinuclear network showing slender projections reaching the nucleus and wider expansions approaching the cell surface; in the Leydig cells it appears as an ovoid structure located at one pole of the nucleus whereas in Sertoli cells it forms a cylindrical structure located in the main shaft of the cytoplasm and extending from the nucleus towards the lumen of the seminiferous tubule. Thus the forming face of the Golgi apparatus displays a primary structure; the tubular roughly polygonal network, which is similar in the three cell types and a secondary structure which varies from cell to cell.