Structure of the Cell - Golgi Apparatus - "The delivery system of the cell"

Camillo Golgi first described it. It consists of a system of membrane-bound vesicles arranged approximately parallel to each other in stacks (5-8 flat, hollow sacs) called cisternae.

• These membranes often have connections with the membranes of the ER.
• The material synthesised near the ER is packaged and dispatched to various targets inside and outside the cell through the Golgi apparatus.
• Sometimes, complex sugars may be made from simple sugars in the Golgi apparatus.
• Its functions include storing, modifying, and packaging products in vesicles.
• Inside the cisternae, proteins are chemically modified by enzymes.
• The modified proteins are then packed into new vesicles. These vesicles leave from the maturation side of the Golgi.
• The Golgi complex acts like a packaging centre, organising and distributing substances in the cell.

Golgi Complex

1. The Golgi complex is the secretory organ of the cell.
2. It modifies, sorts, and packs materials synthesized in the cell (enzymes, mucus, proteins, pigments, etc.) and dispatches them to various targets like plasma membrane, lysosome, etc.
3. It produces vacuoles and secretory vesicles.
4. It helps in the formation of the cell wall, plasma membrane, and lysosomes.

Camillo Golgi was born at Corteno near Brescia in 1843. He studied medicine at the University of Pavia and graduated in 1865. He continued to work in Pavia at the Hospital of St. Matteo. At that time, most of his investigations concerned the nervous system.

• In 1872, he accepted the post of Chief Medical Officer at the Hospital for the Chronically Sick at Abbiategrasso. He first started his investigations into the nervous system in a little kitchen of this hospital, which he had converted into a laboratory.
• However, the work of most significant importance, which Golgi carried out, was a revolutionary method of staining individual nerve and cell structures. This method is referred to as the ‘black reaction.’
• This method uses a weak solution of silver nitrate and is particularly valuable in tracing the processes and most delicate ramifications of cells. Throughout his life, he continued to work on these lines, modifying and improving this technique.
• Golgi received the highest honours and awards in recognition of his work. In 1906, he shared the Nobel Prize with Santiago Ramony Cajal for their work on the structure of the nervous system.

Camillo Golgi