Ultrastructural cytochemistry of the human adrenal medulla

Abstract

A cytochemical study of the human adrenal medulla showed that it is made up of two cell types, the adrenaline (A-) and noradrenaline (N-) storing cells. A- and N-storing granules were argentaphobic when ultrathin sections of Araldite-embedded medullae were stained according to the periodic acid-thiocarbohydrazide silver proteinate technique of Thiery. A small amount of glycogen (which disappeared after digestion with alpha amylase) in the form of B-particles, as well as lysosomes were, however, visualized by this technique. The entire core of A granules was markedly positive after ultrathin sections of glutaraldehyde-fixed, glycol methacrylate-(GMA-) embedded medullae were stained with phosphotungstic acid (PTA) at a low pH (0.3). The N granules, in contrast, were mostly unreactive. PTA stained a large part of the Golgi complex of A cells, whereas it generally had no such effect on that of the N cells. In both cell types, the cell coat, lysosomes and multivesicular bodies reacted to PTA. The periodic acid —schiff (PAS) technique showed A but not N granules in semithin sections of GMA- or Araldite-embedded medullae. The PTA and PAS stains were abolished by acetylation, restored by saponification, unchanged by methylation and greatly diminished by sulfation or by digestion with beta glucuronidase after oxidation by perchloric acid. These results indicate that in man the A granules and the Golgi complex of A cells, unlike the same structures in N cells, are rich in glycoproteins.