Tridimensional structure of the Golgi apparatus in type A ganglion cells of the rat.

The three-dimensional structure of the whole Golgi apparatus and of its components in type A ganglion cells was examined in thin and thick sections by low- and high-voltage electron microscopy. At low magnification, in 10-micron-thick sections of osmicated cells, the Golgi apparatus formed a broad, continuous perinuclear network. At higher magnification and in thinner sections of cells impregnated with uranyl acetate-lead-copper citrate or postfixed in K-ferrocyanide-reduced osmium, the Golgi apparatus appeared as a heterogeneous structure in which saccular regions characterized by stacks of saccules alternated with intersaccular regions made up of branching membranous tubules which bridged the saccules of adjacent stacks. The saccular regions consisted of the following superimposed elements: a cis-osmiophilic element made up of anastomosing tubules; two or three saccules negative for the phosphatases tested (i.e., nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphatase = NADPase, thiamine pyrophosphatase = TPPase, and cytidine monophosphatase = CMPase); two saccules showing TPPase activity; and one to three trans-sacculotubular elements showing a "peeling-off" configuration, one of which showed CMPase activity. The saccules (phosphatase-negative) on the cis-side of the Golgi stacks showed, in addition to small circular pores, larger perforations in register. The cavities thus formed in the stacks of saccules, called "wells," always associated with small 80-nm vesicles, had a pan shape with the mouth directed toward the cis-face and the bottom closed by a TPPase-positive saccule. In face views of the saccules, the smallest of these perforations showed either a crescent shape, due to the presence of a bud on one side of the perforation, or a circular shape with a single small 80-nm vesicle in the center which was occasionally attached to the saccule by a filiform stalk. Such smaller cavities were considered as the precursors of the larger perforations and eventually of the wells. The small 80-nm vesicles seen in the small cavities or in the wells appeared to form in situ and possibly migrate toward the cisternae of endoplasmic reticulum seen proximal to the cis-face of the stack of saccules. Small 80-nm vesicles were also numerous in the intersaccular regions, along the lateral- and trans-aspects of the Golgi stacks, while larger, 150-to 300-nm vesicles, coated and uncoated, were seen only on the trans-face of the Golgi stacks in proximity to the trans-sacculotubular elements which appear to "peel off" from the Golgi stacks.