Calcium-induced patterns of calcium-oxalate crystals in isolated leaflets of Gleditsia triacanthos L. and Albizia julibrissin Durazz.

For experimental induction of crystal cells (=crystal idioblasts) containing calcium-oxalate crystals, the lower epidermis was peeled from seedling leaflets of Gleditsia triacanthos L., exposing the crystal-free mesophyll and minor veins to the experimental solutions on which leaflets were floated for up to 10 d under continous light. On 0.3-2.0 mM Ca-acetate, increasing numbers of crystals, appearing 96 h after peeling, were induced. The pattern of crystal distribution changed with Ca(2+)-concentration ([Ca(2+)]): at low [Ca(2+)], crystals formed only in the non-green bundlesheath cells surrounding the veins, believed to have a relatively low Ca(2+)-extrusion capacity; at higher [Ca(2+)], crystals developed in up to 90% of the mesophyll cells, and at supraoptimal [Ca(2+)], large extracellular crystals formed on the tissue surface. By sequential treatments with solutions of different [Ca(2+)], the following three phases were identified in the induction of crystal cells: (1) during the initial 24-h period (adaptive aging), Ca(2+) is not required and crystal induction is not possible; (2) during the following 48 h (induction period), exposure to 1-2 mM Ca-acetate induces the differentiation of mesophyll cells into crystal cells; (3) crystal growth begins 72 h after the start of induction. In intact leaflets of Albizia julibrissin Durazz., calcium-oxalate crystals are found exclusively in the bundle-sheath cells of the veins, but crystals were induced in the mesophyll of peeled leaflets floating on 1 mM Ca-acetate. Exposure to inductive [Ca(2+)] will thus trigger the differentiation of mature leaf cells into crystal cells; the spatial distribution of crystals is determined by the external [Ca(2+)] and by the structural and functional properties of the cells in the tissue.