140 



A. HOLMBERG 



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Fig. 1. /?-cytomembranes in the non-pigmented epithelium of the cihary body. Magnification 70,000. 



that the central, osmiophobic layer, because of its 

 regular thickness, is not a simple extracellular tissue 

 space. The membranes are localized only to the 

 apical parts of the cell, and do not extend deeper 

 into the cell than to the apical part of the nucleus. 

 Outside the cell membrane a basement membrane 

 is observed 250-350 A thick, separated from the 

 cell membrane by an interspace 400-700 A wide. 



The mitochondria are relatively small with a mean 

 width of only 0. 1 8 //. Most of them are built up in the 

 common way, with the inner double membranes 

 oriented mainly perpendicularly to the outer double 

 membrane. In some cases, however, the inner mem- 

 branes extend parallel to the long axis of the mito- 

 chondrion and along its whole length. In none of 

 these cases have any connections between the inner 

 and outer membranes been seen. 



The Golgi apparatus (fig. 2) is without exception 

 encountered in the basal part of the cells. In each 

 cell one can observe 1-3 Golgi units, each consisting 

 of the well-known components: 2-3 rows of double 

 membranes, 7-cytomembranes, a few larger vacuoles, 

 and several small vesicles. Each single osmiophilic 

 component of the double membranes is about 50 A 

 thick. Both the vacuoles and the vesicles are bounded 

 by a single membrane, about 50 A thick. 



Changes in the idtrastructure after injection of 



Diamox. — Diamox produces changes in the non- 

 pigmented epithelium in at least three of its compo- 

 nents: the cytoplasm, the mitochondria and the 

 Golgi apparatus. 



The most marked changes in the cytoplasm is seen 

 within 30 minutes after injection of Diamox. The 

 cells are filled with small vesicles, in the deeper layers 

 mostly very regularly spread, but close to the surface 

 often congregated in large groups. It is striking how 

 the vesicles in these groups are arranged in rows or 

 concentric circles, resembling the arrangement of 

 the /i-cytomembranes. 



After more than 30 minutes after injection of 

 Diamox the amount of vesicles decreases and at 

 intervals longer than 60 minutes they seem to be 

 practically absent from the cytoplasm. 



Under the influence of Diamox there is a pro- 

 nounced increase in the width of the /7//7()f//o//fl'r/a from 

 the normal 0.18 /< to about 0.25 /<. This increase is 

 due to a real increase of the volume of the ground 

 substance of the mitochondria and not to such a 

 swelling as is characteristic for the post-mortem 

 changes. The alteration of the mitochondria appears 

 very soon; it is seen already within 15 minutes after 

 injection of Diamox and persists for a long time. 

 Thus 2 hours after injection the width of the mito- 

 chondria is still about 0.25 //. As far as can be seen 



