Dynamics of Golgi impregnation in neurons

This paper describes the early stages of impregnation by the Golgi rapid method in sections and blocks of brain tissue. Aldehyde-fixed and potassium dichromate-treated sections of cerebral cortex were placed on glass slides and coverslipped. The dichromate solution was then replaced by a silver nitrate solution, and events taking place in the section were monitored and time-lapse recorded until the impregnation was interrupted and the sections subsequently prepared for electron microscopy. The tissue blocks, fixed and chromated in the same way, were placed into a silver nitrate solution for 30 min to 24 h and the progress of impregnation compared with the results obtained in the sections on the glass slides. Two basic modes of impregnation were observed, apparently in direct relation to the process of crystallization of silver chromate: crystals of silver chromate growing directly from the surface of the tissue into the nerve cell via its transected plasma membranes, and microcrystalline precipitate of silver chromate spreading into the nerve cell from nucleation centres dispersed in the tissue. The precipitate grows inside the cell as in a preformed channel until the cell has been filled. If the nucleation begins extracellularly, the precipitate extends into the narrow intercellular gaps. Electron microscopy showed that the crystalline precipitate consisted of multilamellar formations containing dense coalesced granules that did not cross plasma or endocellular membrane boundaries.