The Golgi apparatus (complex)-(1954-1981)-from artifact to center stage.

Abstract

To the cell biology student of the 1980s, it may come as a surprise to learn that until the late 1950s, the existence of the Golgi apparatus as a bona fide cell organelle was seriously questioned. Surprise would be in order on two accounts : first, the discovery of the Golgi apparatus by Camillo Golgi (1), for whom it is named, took place nearly a century ago ; and, second, now no one questions that the Golgi apparatus is a distinct cell organelle, or is unaware of its participation in a wide variety of cellular activities. Indeed, the Golgi apparatus, or Golgi complex as it is often called, not only occupies the cell center, but it also has moved toward center stage, because it has been shown to be involved in so many cell activities. In this review we will describe the recent history of the Golgi apparatus-the developments that led from its position as a suspected artifact to the situation at present when it is rapidly becoming a main center of attention. The period before the mid 1950s was characterized by controversy concerning the reality of the Golgi apparatus, with the scientific community divided into nonbelievers and believers. The acceptance of the status of the Golgi as a bona fide cell structure depended on whether one believed that the metallic impregnation methods (involving use of silver or OS04), which Golgi and others used to demonstrate the apparatus, were staining a common structure with variable form and distribution in different cell types, or alternatively, that these methods resulted in artifactual deposition of heavy metals on different cell structures in different cell types. The Golgi controversy lasted until the introduction of the electron microscope into biological research, in the early 1950s. Shortly thereafter, the believers began to outnumber the nonbelievers, and by 1963, even the most skeptical had become converts (see Whalley [2]) and Beams and Kessel (3) for details of the history of this period). to the technical limitations of the preparatory techniques at the time, the images obtained did not extend knowledge of its organization beyond what was known from studies with the light microscope. In 1954, however, thèlamellar' nature of the Golgi was recognized and described in papers by Dalton and Felix (4), Sjostrand and Hanzon (5), Rhodin (6), and Farquhar and Rinehart (7). It is Dalton and Felix who deserve the major credit for convincing the scientific …