[Ultrastructure of L forms. Report 5. localization of dehydrogenase activity in L form cells]

A study was made of deposition of diformazan TNBT and TCNBT in the presence of succinate and without it in stable L-forms of Str. pyogenes group A, St. aureus and L. monocytogenes. Diformazan proved to deposit on the cytoplasmic membrane, in the lamellar mesosomes and myelin-like structures and also on individual intracellulor membranes not forming special membrane organoids. Diformazan was localized on the membranes mostly asymmetrically, on the cytoplasmic membrane-on its internal side, and on the ring-like intracellulor membranes- externally. Localization of diformazan on the ring-like membranes is atributed to the fact that ring-like membranous structures in the L-forms formed as a result of invagination of the cytoplasmic membrane in the same way as bacterial mesosomes. Since L-form cells could not be released of endogenous substrates by the methods elaborated for bacteria, cytological data did not permit to ascertain dehydrogenases, responsible for asymmetrical localization of diformazan on the L-form membranes. On the basis of these data one can judge only the sum total activity of dehydrogenases in different membranes.