THE FUNDAMENTAL ORGANIZATION 



79 



the function of Golgi bodies in Protozoa is generally associated 

 with the secretory activities of the cell. These activities, in turn, 

 fall into different categories but mainly in the group of enzymatic 

 functions. Thus Joyet-Lavergne describes a structure near the 

 tips of young forms (agametes, sporozoites) of coccidia, i. e., that 

 portion which first penetrates an epithelial cell, which he compares 

 with the acrosome of metazoon sperm cells (Fig. 40), the substance 

 of the Golgi body being the source of the cytolyzing agent. There 

 is some evidence also that the so-called parabasal bodies of the 

 Polymastigida and the Hypermastigida are made up of varying 

 proportions of lipoid and of proteid substances and have many 

 of the morphological attributes of Golgi bodies (Duboscq and 

 Grasse, 1925). Duboscq and Grasse hold that the parabasals here 

 have a secretory function in connection with the transformation of 

 energy underlying flagellar movements. This, however, has not 



Fig. 40. — Golgi apparatus in reproductive cells. 1, 2 and 3, merozoites of Aggrc- 

 gata eberthi; 4, sporozoite of same; 5, microgametes of same; 6 and 7, sporozoites of 

 Gregarina polymor.pha. In all, the Golgi apparatus at anterior end recalls the acro- 

 some of spermatozoa. X 1000 U and 5), X 2000 (1, 2, 8, 6 and 7). (After Joyet- 

 Lavergne, Arch, d'anatomie microscopique, courtesy of Masson et Cie.) 



been confirmed by later workers and there is high probability that 

 all of the structures which have been called parabasal bodies are 

 not identical in chemical composition (see Hall, 1931; V. E. Brown 

 et al, 1930.). Another type of secretory activity of Golgi bodies 

 in Protozoa is described by Nassonow in connection with the 

 lipoidal membranes, homologized as Golgi apparatus, about the 

 contractile vacuoles and canals of flagellates and ciliates. Nassonow 

 sees in this a special apparatus for the secretion of nitrogenous 

 waste into the vacuole whence it is excreted (see below, p. 170). 



There is no satisfactory evidence of the origin of the Golgi bodies 

 in Protozoa. If the parabasals are to be included in this group of 

 substances and there is equal evidence for regarding them as chroma- 

 toid substances, then there is evidence that in some cases they arise 

 from the blepharoplast and the latter from the endobasal body of 

 the nucleus. Causey (1925), upon rather hazy evidence, concludes 

 that the Golgi bodies of Endamoeba gingivalis arise as thickenings 

 of the walls of gastric vacuoles. 



