Peroxisomes in sebaceous glands. III. Morphological similarities of peroxisomes with smooth endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi stacks in the circumanal gland of the dog.

In the canine circumanal gland, the morphological alterations of peroxisomes during differentiation and maturation of the glandular cells were studied by electron microscopy, cytochemistry and freeze-etch technique. Each of the following three cell types has its own characteristic peroxisomal population: 1) The basal cell contains only a few small peroxisomes, which appear as spherical and tubular profiles showing strong DAB reaction. In the differentiating basal cells, these are joined by a few dilated, hemispherical organelles with intensely stained small marginal plates. 2) In the intermediate cell, additional to spherical and tubular peroxisomes, numerous elongated organelles with distinct marginal plates are observed, displaying weak catalase activity. 3) In the mature cell, dumbbell-shaped peroxisomes with enlarged marginal plates predominate. Serial section analysis and freeze-etching studies reveal that these dilated particles are of erythrocyte-like shape. They exhibit very weak catalase activity or do not contain any visible DAB reaction product. In their flattened, thin central portions, the membranes enclose the marginal plates and form straight cisternae, which are closely associated with adjacent fenestrated cisternae of ER on both sides, referred to as paramarginal cisternae. Dumbbell-shaped peroxisomes with their corresponding paramarginal cisternae form large peroxisome-ER-complexes. Furthermore, three to five dumbbell-shaped particles are often stacked in parallel. Only at their flat poles are the organelles in close contact with paramarginal cisternae. The observation of continuities, in particular between erythrocyte-like organelles and tubular peroxisomes in mature glandular cells, indicates the existence of a peroxisomal compartment composed of two segments in the mature stage. In freeze-etch replicas of mature glandular cells, only the dilated segments of the peroxisomal compartment can be easily recognized because of their unusual size and erythrocyte-like shape. Additionally, on the E-face of their central portion, a straight, square or rectangular area with a distinct crystalline pattern is seen, which corresponds to the marginal plate. These findings indicate that the circumanal gland of the dog offers a unique possibility to analyze the biological properties of a well-defined peroxisomal compartment.