Relationship between golgi apparatus and axonal reticulum in sympathetic ganglion cells

Mucopolysaccharides have been demonstrated biochemically in catecholamine-containing subcellular particles in different rat, cat and ox tissues. As catecholamine-containing granules seem to arise from the Golgi apparatus and some also from the axoplasmic reticulum we examined wether carbohydrate macromolecules could be detected in the small and large dense core vesicles and in structures related to them. To this purpose superior cervical ganglia and irises from rabbit and cat and coeliac ganglia and their axons from dog were subjected to the chromaffin reaction to show the distribution of catecholamine-containing granules. Some material was also embedded in glycolmethacrylate (GMA) and stained with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) at low pH for the detection of carbohydrate macromolecules.The chromaffin reaction in the perikarya reveals mainly large dense core vesicles, but in the axon hillock, the axons and the terminals, the small dense core vesicles are more prominent. In the axons the small granules are sometimes seen inside a reticular network (fig. 1).</jats:p