THE EFFECT OF GROWTH AND NUTRITION ON MITOCHONDRIA IN LIVER CELLS OF FUNDULUS HETEROCLITUS

Abstract

In a recent study on Triturus pyrrhogaster (McCurdy, 1939) I found that starvation and re-feeding tend to produce definite changes in the mitochondrial picture of the liver cells. In the course of starvation, the elongated mitochondria which predominate in well-fed animals gradually give way to granular mitochondria, and these latter finally become predominant. When the procedure is reversed and starved animals are re-fed, the mitochondria change in the opposite direction, from granular to elongated. These mitochondrial changes, however, though they clearly depend upon digestive activity and degree of starvation in general, are more closely related to the amounts of fat and glycogen in the liver itself. It can be stated as a rule that in the liver cells of Triturus increase in the fat and glycogen content is accompanied by an increase in the proportion of elongated mitochondria, and decrease in the fat and glycogen content is accompanied by an increase in the proportion of granular mitochondria. There is thus an important relationship between the nutrition of cells and the form of their mitochondria. The present study is concerned with two questions: (1) Does a similar relationship between mitochondrial form and the amount of storage products exist in a different species? (2) Does growth affect the morphology of the mitochondria?