Three dimensional structure of the leishmania amastigote as revealed by computer-aided reconstruction from serial sections

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Abstract
Computer-aided reconstruction from serial sections has been used to analyse the 3-dimensional structure of entire amastigotes of Leishmania mexicana mexicana and to determine the number, arrangement and volume of each organelle. In two reconstructions, the lysosome-like ‘megasomes’ were the most numerous organelle, there being 34 in one amastigote, and they comprised as much as 15% of the total cell volume. In contrast, as few as 9 glycosomes were present, accounting for less than 1% of the cell volume. The unitary nature of the mitochondrion was confirmed and its complex basket-like structure was revealed. The spatial arrangement of the cell organelles is here displayed in stereo-pairs.

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