Contribution of the Golgi apparatus components to the formation of the acrosomic system and chromatoid body in rat spermatids.

The cytochemical distribution of two different acid phosphatases, nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphatase (NADPase) and cytidine monophosphatase (CMPase), was analyzed within the Golgi apparatus, acrosomic system, and chromatoid body of early spermatids. Within the saccules composing the Golgi cortex, the phosphatases were localized in specific and nonoverlapping compartments: the cis-tubular network, or cis-element, and the first underlying saccule were unreactive for both enzymes, the following four to five saccules were reactive for NADPase, and the last three saccules were reactive for CMPase. Vesicles of various sizes and short membranous tubules, present near the edges of saccules and in the medulla of the Golgi apparatus, were NADPase- and/or CMPase-positive. The acrosomic system showed a weak but significant NADPase reactivity and a strong CMPase reactivity. The vesicles associated with the chromatoid body were reactive for NADPase and/or CMPase. The combined observations indicate that the two cytochemically distinct compartments of the Golgi cortex, the NADPase- and CMPase-positive saccules, independently contribute to the formation of the acrosomic system and the vesicular component of the chromatoid body.