Ingestion of colloid in a keratinized epithelium and its localization in membrane-coating granules

An electron-dense tracer (Thorotrast) was injected into the lamina propria of the keratinized epithelium of the buccal mucosa of rats. Electron microscopy showed that it crossed the basal lamina and penetrated the intercellular spaces of the epithelium up to the proximal layers of the stratum granulosum. Thorotrast was ingested by the epithelial cells in the stratum basale and stratum spinosum and localized in large vesicles and eventually in the membrane-coating granules. The latter, already known to contain lysosomal enzymes, are therefore to be regarded as secondary lysosomes formed in part as a sequel of endocytosis in deeper cell layers. The postulated origin of MCGs directly from the Golgi apparatus is rendered less likely by this observation. Thorotrast remaining in the cells when keratinization is completed is either dispersed into the cytoplasm or else incorporated into keratohyalin granules.