CHAPTER IV 



The Behavior of Mitochondria 



One of the more characteristic attributes of mitochondria 

 that may be gathered from a perusal of the hterature is 

 their property of changing form or pleomorphism. As early 

 as 1897, Benda showed that the mitochondria in spermato- 

 genesis transform into the spiral filament of the sperma- 

 tozoon. Later investigators have traced the "transfor- 

 mation" or differentiation of mitochondria of various tissue 

 cells into a large variety of end-products (myofibrils, con- 

 nective tissue fibrils, secretion droplets, prosecretions, pig- 

 ment granules, plastids, etc.)- Many of these so-called 

 transformations have been questioned on the basis of an 

 assumed phosphoHpin-albumin constitution of mitochondria, 

 which also presupposed a "passive" nature of these bodies. 



The relationship of mitochondria to secretory processes 

 appears to have partially weathered the storm of criticism, 

 and is still accepted by a large number of investigators. 

 Altmann was the first to find that the granules (mito- 

 chondria) are related to secretory processes in the wax 

 glands of the ear and the submaxillary gland. Regaud 

 and Mawas ('09) confirmed Altmann's work on these glands, 

 and further showed that the granular or coccoid mito- 

 chondria arise from the bacillary or filamentous forms by a 

 process of fragmentation. O. Schultze ('11) investigated 

 the problem and concluded that the secretory granules 

 originate from mitochondria. Debeyre ('12) investigated 

 the submaxillary gland of the rabbit, and with the aid of 

 vital stains (Janus green and neutral red) he was able to 

 observe the transformation stages of mitochondria into 

 secretion granules. Guieysse-Pehssier ('11) examined the 



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