Normal rabbit alveolar macrophages. II. Their primary and secondary lysosomes as revealed by electron microscopy and cytochemistry.

Open Access
Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
In this investigation, vacuoles containing tubular myelin proved to be digestive compartments with cytochemical reactivity for acid phosphatase and arylsulfatase. These cytochemical markers identified the secondary lysosomes, known to contain enzymes capable of hydrolyzing phospholipids like surfactant. Alveolar macrophages apparently possess the enzymatic machinery for the degradation of the tubular myelin found in their digestive vacuoles. Acid hydrolases, so prominently displayed in the secondary lysosomes, were also localized in the rough endoplasmic reticulum and in Golgi-endoplasmic reticulum-lysosomes (GERL). Small vesicles which were produced from GERL probably served as primary lysosomes in transporting digestive enzymes to the vacuoles.

This publication has 26 references indexed in Scilit: