Talk:Paper - On the idiosome, golgi apparatus, and acrosome in the male germ cells

Abstracted by Robert Hall Bowen, author. Columbia University, New York.

On the iodiosome, Golgi apparatus, and acrosome in the male germ cells.

An attempt has been made to synthesize the results of recent investigations on the relation of the Golgi apparatus and idiosome to each other and to the acrosome in developing sperm cells. The idiosome in spermatocytes Was originally defined by Meves on the basis of its supposed relation to the centrioles, whence arose the common confusion of the idiosome with a true ‘attraction sphere.’ It now appears that the idiosomic material is closely related to another cytoplasmic element, the Golgi apparatus. The latter may assume several appearances depending on the technique employed, but its condition in the living cell is probably that of a number of discrete rodlets. These may be clustered with the idiosomic material around the centrioles, or may be scattered through the cytoplasm Without reference to the cell centers, in which case the idiosomic material is similarly distributed——a small mass to each Golgi element. The idiosome is thus to be defined by its relation to the Golgi apparatus rather than the centrioles. In the maturation divisions the Golgi elements are distributed to the spermatids by a complex dictyokinesis, and the idiosomic material probably accompanies the Golgi pieces in this distribution. In the spermatids the idiosome and Golgi apparatus may be reconstituted into a compact group (the familiar ‘sphere’ complex of many authors) or may remain in a scattered condition. The acrosome forms as a special differentiation product of this idiosome—Golgi complex, the exact method being characterized by great variation in detail in different animals, but fundamental similarity in essentials. AUTHOR'S ABSTRACT OF THIS PAPER ISSUED BY THE BIBLIOGRAPHIC SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 11