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Effect of short-term starvation on the cells of the proximal convoluted tubule of the mouse: a cytological and cytochemical study

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The effects of starvation on the intracellular distribution of acid glycerophosphate phosphatase have been studied in the cells of the proximal convoluted tubule of mouse kidney. Severe cytological and cytochemical changes begin in the cell two hours after withdrawal of food. They consist primarily in the appearance of numerous acid phosphatase-positive cytoplasmic vesicles arising from a hypertrophy of the rough endoplasmic reticulum. This is followed by the appearance of numerous acid phosphatase-positive Golgi zones and by degenerative changes of the mitochondria. After eighteen hours the cells also contain a large number of droplets of nonosmiophilic material, probably neutral fats, sited mainly in the area of the basement membrane, some cytosegresomes and several residual bodies sited below the brush border in the apical region of the cells. Since there appears to be a lack of correlation between the number and time of appearance of the cytosegresomes, the time of appearance and intensity of the reaction for nonlysosomal acid phosphatase, and the entity of cellular damage, this has led the authors to suggest the possibility that, beside the lysosomal autophagy described by other workers, there may occur in these experimental circumstances also a direct digestion of subcellular organelles by the acid phosphatasepositive vesicles of the rough endoplasmic reticulum, and that this mechanism may explain the formation of lipid droplets.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Tissue and Organ Culture Unit, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, Lincoln's Inn Fields, W. C. 2, London

    Viviane Maggi & Maura F. Oddy

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  1. Viviane Maggi
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  2. Maura F. Oddy
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Maggi, V., Oddy, M.F. Effect of short-term starvation on the cells of the proximal convoluted tubule of the mouse: a cytological and cytochemical study. Histochem J 1, 78–92 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054296

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01054296

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