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Cytochemical and biochemical identification of lysosomes in cryptococcus neoformans

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Abstract

Normaski optics, fluorescence and electron microscopy were employed to demonstrate the occurrence of lysosomes in capsulated, enzymatically decapsulated, and dewalled cells of a human isolate ofCryptococcus neoformans. Fluorescent studies, using acridine orange as a lysosomal indicator, revealed the presence of variously sized, spherical, reddish-orange fluorescing bodies. Electron microscopy studies demonstrated the presence of acid phosphatase (AP), a lysosome marker enzyme, in single-membrane bound organelles. Lysosomes were removed from dewalled cells and separated by differential centrifugation on ficoll gradients. That fraction indicating the highest assay for AP was centrifuged at high speed, and the resulting pellet was fixed for electron microscopy and stained by the Gomori procedure for AP. Sections of the pellets revealed AP stained vesicles of the same size range as those within intact cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, Wittenberg University, 45501, Springfield, OH, USA

    David L. Mason & Charles L. Wilson

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  1. David L. Mason
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  2. Charles L. Wilson
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Mason, D.L., Wilson, C.L. Cytochemical and biochemical identification of lysosomes in cryptococcus neoformans. Mycopathologia 68, 183–190 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00578528

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