THE MECHANISM OF ACCUMULATION OF DYES BY LIVING CELLS

Abstract

Basic dyes combine with colloidal material in the sap as well as in the cytoplasm. When this colloidal substance condenses, it carries all or most of the dye with it, leaving the cell incapable of further vital staining. Affinity of this colloidal material for basic dyes is greatest when the cell sap is slightly acid, apparently [iota]H 5-6. While ability of the normally basophile colloidal material to take up acid dyes when the sap is acidified points to the possibility of the adsorption of the dyes in the cell, the actual mechanism of storage by cells of Anthericum, which normally accumulate such dyes, remains uncertain.