On the mechanism of the transport through Golgi apparatus

Abstract

The application of an ultrastructural cytochemical method for Kt-dependent paranitrophenylphosphatase (Nat,Kt-ATPase) has revealed patterns of plasticity of the Golgi apparatus of neurons in the cerebral cortex of 15-day-old rats. The peripheral part of the cis-most cisterna, being usually reactive, deviates from its regular arrangement in the Golgi stack and contacts with adjacent profile of the granular endoplasmic reticulum or with the next cisterna. The findings prompt the hypothesis that active movements of the cis-cisternae may facilitate and accelerate the transport of nascent proteins to and through the Golgi apparatus. The question about the nature of the contacts between the pointed membrane-bound compartments remains open.