Studies on the posterior silk gland of the silkworm Bombyx mori. V. Electron microscope localization of fibroin in the posterior silk gland at the later stage of the fifth instar.

Electron microscope observations of thin sections of epoxy resin-embeded posterior silk gland cells at the later stage of the fifth instar revealed that the Golgi vacuoles and the secretory granules (fibroin globules) in the cytoplasm and the glandular lumen contain fine fibrous materials. In frozen thin sections these structures appear as electron-dense granules and electron-dense blocks, or a column, respectively. Immunoelectron microscopy has shown that ferritin particles or products of the peroxidase reaction are localized on these structures. It was concluded that the fine fibrous materials most probably represent native fibroin molecules or their aggregates.