Micrurgical studies on the contractile vacuole. III. The pH of the vacuolar fluid in actinosphaerium eichhorni

✍ Scribed by Howland, Ruth B.

• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Year: 1930
• Tongue: English
• Weight: 554 KB
• Volume: 55
• Category: Article
• ISSN: 0022-104X
• DOI: 10.1002/jez.1400550106

✦ Synopsis

Numerous estimates of the pH of living cytoplasm and of its inclusion bodies have appeared in the literature of the last few years. A concise summary of the widely varied methods employed for these determinations and of the divergent results obtained has recently been made by Chambers(1). He concludes from his critical study of the published data that the disagreement in results may be attributed to errors inherent in the various technical methods employed rather than to variations in the intracellular pH.

On micro-injecting solutions of standard indicators into the cytoplasm of a wide variety of living cells (Ameba, amphibian and mammalian tissue cells, marine ova, etc.), Chambers and his coworkers have'obtained a fairly constant pH of 6.9 & 0.1. An attempt was made to repeat the work of these investigators on colonies of Actinosphaerium eichhorni. A few preliminary experiments in micro-injecting fluids into these organisms, however, led a t once to the discovery that this coarsely vduolated protoplasm differs so widely in its reactions from that of ameba, marine ova, tissue cells, etc., as to render direct comparisons difficult.

The outstanding reason for this may be briefly stated as follows: I n all of the cells previously used for micro-injection, the cytoplasm appears to be a clear hyaline fluid with granules, crystals, or discrete vacuoles dispersed in it. Indi-63