THE BEHAVIOR OF MITOCHONDRIA 47 



significance should be attached to these sUght variations? 

 It has been shown that mitochondria vary in their staining 

 reactions. So far as the researches on these two groups of 

 structures have been carried, there is no conclusive evidence 

 to show that mitochondria and the Golgi bodies may not 

 be related structures. When one contemplates the modi- 

 fications that mitochondria undergo in the formation of the 

 nebenkern, a transformation of mitochondria into a net- 

 like structure, or a laminated structure, appears to be a 

 suuple process. 



Other variations in the behavior of mitochondria have 

 been recorded in the Uterature. It has been observed by a 

 number of investigators, and I beheve it is generally ac- 

 cepted, that the amount of mitochondria varies with the 

 age of the cell. Young growing cells contain a larger 

 number of mitochondria than those that are old and senile. 

 It has also been observed by Romeis ('13), Torraca ('14a, 

 '14b), and others that the mitochondria increase in numbers 

 in regenerating tissues. Of particular interest are the 

 modifications attributed to mitochondria in abnormal or 

 pathological tissues. The researches in this field have been 

 fairly numerous, but the results have not led to any partic- 

 ular fundamental conception of the nature of mitochondria. 



Observations on the mitochondria in pathological tissues 

 have indicated, in some cases, an alteration in the number 

 of mitochondria, and in other instances, pleomorphic modi- 

 fications have been mentioned. The observation of Goetsch 

 ('16), are particularly significant, in as much as he correlates 

 the number of mitochondria present in the thyroid with 

 various diseased conditions of the gland. Goetsch found a 

 profound reduction of mitochondria in colloid goiter. In 

 cases of adenoma with hyperthyroidism and exophthalmic 

 goiter he found an increased number of mitochondria. 

 Quite recently, Seecof ('25), has found definite mitochondrial 

 changes in the thyroid running parallel with experimental 



