Permanganate fixation of the Golgi complex and other cytoplasmic structures of mammalian tests

Abstract

Observations on the fine structure of KMnO(4)-fixed testes of small mammals (guinea pig, rat, and mouse) reveal certain morphological differences between the spermatogenic and Sertoli cells which have not been demonstrated in the same tissue fixed with OsO(4). Aggregates of minute circular profiles, much smaller than the spherical Golgi vesicles, are described in close association with the Golgi complex of developing spermatids. Groups of dense flattened vesicles, individually surrounded by a membrane of different dimensions than that which bounds most of the other cell organelles, appear dispersed within the cytoplasm of some spermatogenic cells. Flattened vesicles of greater density than those belonging to the Golgi complex are reported confined to the inner Golgi zone of developing guinea pig spermatids between the Golgi cisternae and the head cap. The profiles of endoplasmic reticulum within spermatocytes appear shorter, wider, and more tortuous than those of Sertoli cells. Minute cytoplasmic particles approximately 300 A in diameter and of high electron opacity appear randomly disposed in some Sertoli cells. Groups of irregular-shaped ovoid bodies within the developing spermatids are described as resembling portions of cytoplasm from closely adjacent spermatids. Interpretation is presented regarding the fine structure of KMnO(4)-fixed testes in view of what has already been reported for mammalian testes fixed in OsO(4).