Phosphatases in the neurones of Locusta migratoria

Abstract

ABSTRACT Frozen sections of motor neurones in the thoracic ganglia of Locusta migratoria were treated for thiamine pyrophosphatase activity and for acid phosphatase activity. The TPPase-positive bodies range from 0·5 to 1·25 μ. diameter and appear to be the small, membrane-bound inclusions described by Ashhurst and Chapman (1962) in their electron-microscope work; these are the smaller lipochondria of Shafiq (1953). The acid-phosphatase-positive bodies range from 1 to 2·5 μ diameter and seem to be the lamellar aggregates described by Ashhurst and Chapman that are very similar to γ-cytomembranes, and which are the larger lipochondria of Shafiq. It is concluded that the enzyme content of the γ-cytomembranes is very different in this cell from their content in the vertebrate neurone, and doubt is thrown on the usefulness of TPPase activity as a marker for the Golgi apparatus in invertebrate tissue.