Description

The linkage complex consists of a spindle shaped mid piece bordered, in one plane, by several rails that have subunits that pass through the ER membrane. Thin filaments splay out from both tips of the mid piece and pass toward the surface of the pellicle. The molecular biology or biochemistry of these elements remains to be done. We can only guess that they are involved in calcium movement between the myoneme and the ER and thus in regulating myonemal contraction and relaxation. TEM taken on 4/15/71 by R. Allen with Hitachi HU11A operating at 75kV. Neg. 24,000X. Bar = 0.2µm. Published and adapted with permission from J. Cell Biol. 56:559-579, 1973. 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:39462) 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/).