Cytochemical demonstration of NADH-ferricyanide reductase and nucleoside diphosphatase activities in dictyosome-like structures of guinea pig spermatocytes.

Structures superficially resembling dictyosomes of Golgi apparatus are present in guinea pig spermatocytes and in spermatids in late stages of development. They coexist with Golgi apparatus. In this report, we demonstrate that the dictyosome-like structures (DLS) and Golgi apparatus share cytochemical "markers", inosine diphosphatase and thiamine pyrophosphatase. Additionally, the cytochemical marker for the mature face of conventional Golgi apparatus as well as most plasma membranes, a glutaraldehyde-resistant NADH-ferricyanide reductase, is present in DLS. The latter reaction is also given by the membranes of the acrosome and that portion of the conventional Golgi apparatus (i.e., the thick cisternae) presumed to be responsible for acrosome formation. A distinguishing feature between DLS and Golgi apparatus is in the distribution of reaction product. Golgi apparatus reaction product is concentrated toward one face of each dictyosome while DLS reaction product is usually randomly distributed across the stacks.