Summary
The plasmolytic method and the triphenyltetrazolium chloride (TTC) reaction were compared as criteria of vitality inAnacharis canadensis, following treatment with 7 different types of herbicides. In general there was good agreement between the two methods. Cells that were plasmolyzable exhibited the capacity to reduce TTC, and contrariwise. Maleic hydrazide, as an exception, inhibited the TTC reaction in varying degree according to concentration.
Usually formazan first appeared on the cell walls. Later, it appeared as granules deposited in the cytoplasm or on chloroplast surfaces.
The walls of cells in a plasmolyzed condition did not become colored; however, formazan was produced in the cytoplasm and on chloroplasts, the amount decreasing with increasing molarity of plasmolyticum. Cells deplasmolyzed before the TTC treatment showed the same inhibition of wall coloring as plasmolyzed cells.
The observations suggest that inAnacharis considerable TTC-reducing activity is located at the outer surface of the protoplast. Plasmolytic inhibition of the TTC reaction inAnacharis may be due to disruption of the structural entities in the surface responsible for the reaction.
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Currier, H.B., van der Zweep, W. Plasmolysis and the tetrazolium reaction inAnacharis canadensis . Protoplasma 45, 125–132 (1955). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01248147
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01248147