The reactions of rabbit gall bladder epithelium to electron microscopic stainings for carbohydrates with 1,2-glycol groupings.

In the rabbit gall bladder epithelium several ultrastructural elements have been reacted positively for different electron microscopic stainings for carbohydrates with 1,2-glycol groupings. These elements include the surface coat of the plasma membrane, pinocytotic vesicles, certain elements of the Golgi apparatus, secretory granules, lysosome-like bodies and glycogen particles. These ultrastructural elements were found to vary in reactivity with different staining procedures for the demonstration of the carbohydrates. Attempts were made to correlate the positive reactions of some of these carbohydrate-containing elements with their cytophysiological functions, and the varying reactivity of the carbohydrate-containing elements with different staining methods was discussed in relation to factors involved in the staining reactions concerned.