ACROSOME FORMATION IN THE HOUSE CRICKET

Abstract

Acrosome formation during spermatogenesis in the house cricket was studied with the electron microscope. In the early spermatid there is a single Golgi body, called the acroblast, which is cup-shaped, the walls being composed of a number of parallel membranes. A pro-acrosomal granule then appears within the acroblast. Next, the granule migrates to the nucleus, where it becomes attached. The acroblast then migrates away from the attached granule and is eventually sloughed off. In the first stage of acrosome differentiation the granule assumes the shape of a blunt cone and its base invaginates deeply so that it becomes hollowed. Within the space created by the invagination a new structure forms which, from the first, has the shape of a hollow cone. The two cones constitute the mature acrosome. Both have a biconvex cross-section.