Description

Higher magnification view of the spongiome of the Contractile Vacuole Complex. The spongiome is composed of a three dimensional array of tubules that are continuous with the CV membrane. Many tubules bear peg-like elements on their cytosolic surfaces reminiscent of the decorated tubules of Paramecium. These pegs are probably V-ATPase proton pumps. TEM taken on 5/1/78 by R. Allen with Hitachi HU11A operating at 75kV. Neg. 18,000X. Bar = 0.2µm. The negative was printed to paper and the image was scanned to Photoshop. This digitized image is available for qualitative analysis. There is a high resolution version of this image in the library (CIL:39795) which is available for quantitative analysis. Additional information available at (http://www5.pbrc.hawaii.edu/allen/).

Technical Details

Standard glutaraldehyde fixation followed by osmium tetroxide, dehydrated in alcohol and embedded in an epoxy resin. Microtome sections prepared at approximately 75nm thickness. Additional information available at (http://www5.pbrc.hawaii.edu/allen/).