Contrast Between Osmium-Fixed and Permanganate-Fixed Toad Spinal Ganglia

Chains of vesicles are prominent near the plasma membranes of both the neurons and satellite cells of osmium-fixed toad spinal ganglia. In permanganate-fixed specimens, however, such vesicles are absent, and in their place are continuous invaginations of the plasma membranes of these cells. The discrepancy suggests that the serried vesicles seen in osmium-fixed preparations arise through disintegration of plasma membrane invaginations, and do not represent active pinocytosis, as has been suggested previously. A second difference between ganglia fixed by these two methods is that rows of small, disconnected cytoplasmic globules occur in the sheaths of permanganate-fixed ganglia, but not in osmium-fixed samples. It is suggested that these globules arise from the breakdown of thin sheets of satellite cell cytoplasm which occur as continuous lamellae in osmium-fixed specimens. Possible mechanisms of these membrane reorganizations, and the relevance of these findings to other tissues, are discussed.