Ultrastructure and a possible function of the intercisternal elements in dictyosomes

The slime-producing dictyosomes in the placentary papillae of Aptenia cordifolia (L.f.) Schwant. show some structural peculiarities: (1) the number of their cisternae is conspicuously large in comparison with those of other cormophyta; (2) the spaces between the extremely flat vesicle-producing cisternae of the maturing face are considerably higher than those between the other cisternae; (3) the intercisternal elements show a pearl-string form rather than a fibrillar form-especially on tangential sections. Based on personal and on cited findings, the following hypothesis is developed: The intercisternal elements effect the compression of the central region of the secretory cisternae. This causes the production of vesicles to remain restricted to the marginal region of the cisternae, even if these cisternae contain hypertonic or soaking substances.