Summary
The vacuolar system in the absorptive cells of the goldfish hindgut was studied by rapid freeze-substituted and cytochemical techniques. The apical cytoplasm of the absorptive cells contained two types of vacuoles: endosomes and lysosomes. The former were characterized by an absence of acid phosphatase activity, a dot-like distribution of material at the peripheral rim, the labelling of the inner surface with horseradish peroxidase (HRP), and by frequent connections to cytoplasmic tubules (CT), which were also free of acid phosphatase activity. The latter vacuole was preferentially located in the deeper cytoplasm and was characterized by the presence of acid phosphatase activity, an electron-dense interior matrix, a peripheral electron-lucent region (a halo), and by the detachment of HRP from the inner surface. Connections between CTs and these latter vacuoles were rarely seen. In the deeper cytoplasm, fusion between endosomes and lysosomes was sometimes observed. These results suggest that the vacuoles which are associated with CTs are endosomes, but not lysosomes, and that internalized materials are transported through the endosome-lysosome system to a giant food vacuole in the cell.
References
Barka T, Anderson PJ (1962) Histochemical methods for acid phosphatase using hexazonium pararosanilin as coupler. J Histochem Cytochem 10:741–753
Block J, Mulder-Staple AA, Ginsel LA, Daems WIh (1981) Endocytosis in absorptive cells of cultured human small-intestinal tissue: Horseradish peroxidase, lactoperoxidase, and ferritin as markers. Cell Tissue Res 216:1–13
Graham RC, Karnovsky MJ (1966) The early stage of absorption of injected horseradish peroxidase in the proximal tubules of mouse kidney. Ultrastructural cytochemistry by a new technique. J Histochem Cytochem 14:291–302
Haimes HB, Stockert RJ, Morell AG, Novikoff AB (1981) Carbohydrate-specified endocytosis: Localization of ligand in the lysosomal compartment. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 78:6936–6939
Helenius A, Marsh M, White J (1980) The entry of viruses into animal cells. Trends Biochem Sci 5:104–106
Helenius A, Mellman I, Wall D, Hubbard A (1983) Endosomes. Trends Biochem Sci 8:245–250
Herzog V (1984) Pathways of endocytosis in thyroid follicle cells. Int Rev Cytol 91:107–139
Hopkins CR, Trowbridge IS (1983) Internalization and processing of transferrin and the transferrin receptor in human carcinoma A431 cells. J Cell Biol 97:508–521
Iida H, Yamamoto T (1984) Morphological studies of the goldfish hindgut mucosa in organ culture. Cell Tissue Res 238:523–528
Iida H, Yamamoto T (1985) Intracellular transport of horseradish peroxidase in the absorptive cells of goldfish hindgut in vitro, with special reference to the cytoplasmic tubules. Cell Tissue Res 240:553–560
Marsh M, Griffiths G, Dean G, Mellman I, Helenius A (1984) Endosome morphology in BHK-21 cells (abstract). J Cell Biol 99:377a
Steinman RM, Mellman IS, Muller WA, Cohn ZA (1983) Endocytosis and the recycling of plasma membrane. J Cell Biol 96:1–27
Tycko B, Maxfield FR (1982) Rapid acidification of endocytic vesicles containing α 2-macroglobulin. Cell 28:643–651
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Iida, H., Shibata, Y. & Yamamoto, T. The endosome-lysosome system in the absorptive cells of goldfish hindgut. Cell Tissue Res. 243, 449–452 (1986). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00251064
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00251064