Gap Junction-ribosome Association after Autolysis

Cell membrane integrity and regularity are criteria commonly used to appreciate the preservation of biological specimens in electron microscope preparations . Disruptions in the cell membrane are observed in tissues experimentally submitted to autolysis and are interpreted as an expression of the fragility of autolysed tissues during technical procedures. In liver cells, on which most of the studies on autolysis have been done (see review by Trump and Ericsson, 1965), the lesions of the nonspecialized portions of the cell membrane are described and interpreted as a key factor in the pathogenesis of the changes after autolysis (Trump et al ., 1971) . In the present work it is reported that the gap junctions are more resistant to experimental autolysis than the nonspecialized portions of the cell membrane, and it is demonstrated that there is an association between ribosomes and those junctions at different time intervals of autolysis.