Abstract
By use of light and electron microscopes the localization of acid phosphatase was determined by cytochemical reaction in Acanthamoeba castellanii (Neff strain), during axenic growth and during phagocytosis. The cell density of the cultures was found to have a marked effect on the ease of cytochemical demonstration of acid phosphatase. During axenic growth, this enzyme was found in about half of the cytoplasmic vacuoles, in some vesicles of the Golgi apparatus, and in mitochondria-like structures in the cytoplasm. A quantitative study made during phagocytosis of the changes in number of acid phosphatase-positive vacuoles and -positive phagosomes gave new data on the digestive system of this amoeba and on its behavior during axenic growth and during phagocytosis. Biochemical assays indicated no induction of acid phosphatase by phagocytosis and no external release of hydrolase during phagocytosis.
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