Some Ultrastructural and Functional Aspects of the Golgi Apparatus of Thelohania sp. (Microsporida) in the Shrimp Pandalus jordani Rathbun

SYNOPSIS. Electron microscope observations on Thelohania sp. in the shrimp Pandalus jordani support the view that the Golgi complex in Microsporida is a "classical" one, composed of vesicular, vacuolar, and cisternal components. During development of the sporoblast, a portion of the Golgi complex is seen as an electron-dense reticulum enmeshing the core of the polar filament. Associated with the reticulum are electron-dense bodies. The reticulum and "dense bodies," reported in several previous publications, have not been well understood and have been given a variety of names. The evidence favors the view that these structures have secretory activity in which the reticulum concentrates or synthesizes material, some of which takes the form of membrane-bounded granules. It is suggested that the most appropriate name for the reticulum is "reticulum golgien," and that the correct name for the "dense bodies" is the standard cytologic term, "secretion granules." The secretion granules apparently remain in the posterior part of the spore, and may be stored there for some as yet undetermined use.