Summary
Ultrastructural observations on microbodies in normal proximal tubule cells of the rat kidney are described and compared with microbodies of hepatic parenchymal cells. After fixation in osmium tetroxide with phosphate buffer the special features of the renal microbodies are the non-crystalline “nucleoid” and protrusions (“rods”) extending from the main body. These rods are cylindrical in shape having a diameter about 100 nm and are of varying lengths. Inside the limiting membrane are ring- or spiral-like ordered profiles consisting of granules (about 50 Å in diameter) which often appeared as a row of parallel linear densities arranged at approximately right angles to the long axis of the rod. It can be demonstrated that the parallel linear pattern depends on the projection of the granules in the photographic plane. — The findings suggest that the cylindrical structures of granules are formed in the peripheral matrix of microbodies; in a second phase they are “lifted” outside, in part enveloped with the membrane of the microbody; in this situation, the protrusions are formed. This form of creation would explain the characteristic excentrical (“tangential”) relation between protrusions and the main body. The observation that rods are often seen apparently isolated in the cytoplasm without visible connection with a microbody is only discussed hypothetically, because of the plane of sectioning. — Microbodies and rods can be identified in cytosegresomes. These investigations were interpreted as an autophagic degradation and not as an active role of the enzymes of microbodies in digestive mechanisms.
Zusammenfassung
Die Feinstrukturen der Mikrokörper des Nierenepithels werden beschrieben und mit denjenigen der Leber-Mikrokörper verglichen. Als besondere Charakteristika der Nieren-Mikrokörper sind eine (nicht kristalline) nucleoide Verdichtung und eigentümliche stabförmige Ausstülpungen (“Stäbe”) anzusehen. Die Stäbe stellen unterschiedlich lange Zylinder mit einem Durchmesser von 100 nm dar. Im Inneren findet sich eine unmittelbar der Membran anliegende, ring- oder spiralförmig angeordnete, granuläre Struktur (Granula-Durchmesser 50 Å), die in Stablängsschnitten eine Querstreifung vortäuscht. Es wird eine in Phasen ablaufende Bildung der Mikrokörper-Stäbe angenommen: ein in der Matrix entstandener Granula-Zylinder hebt sich aus dem Mikrokörper heraus, wobei die Mikrokörper-Membran entsprechend vorgebuchtet wird, und wächst schließlich zu einem eigenständigen, allseits membranumzogenen Stab aus. Die Möglichkeit, daß die Stäbe von Mikrokörpern abgestoßen werden, wird diskutiert. — Die Segregation von Mikrokörpern in Vakuolen wird nicht als aktive Beteiligung an lytischen Prozessen, sondern als autophagischer Vorgang gedeutet.
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Herrn Prof. Dr. Helmut Ruska zum 60. Geburtstag gewidmet.
Mit Unterstützung durch die Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.
Herrn Doz. Dr. W. Thoenes danke ich für wertvolle Hinweise und für die kritische Durchsicht des Manuskriptes.
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Langer, K.H. Feinstrukturen der Mikrokörper (Microbodies) des proximalen Nierentubulus. Zeitschrift für Zellforschung 90, 432–446 (1968). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00341997
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00341997