Induction of Anomalous Lysosomes in the Renal Papillae of Beige Mice by Experimental Potassium Deficiency

Abstract

Summary

Normal mice which were fed a potassium-deficient diet and deionized water developed large numbers of lysosomes in the cytoplasm of the cells of the renal medulla similar in size, structure, and distribution upon light and electron microscopic examination to those induced in rats by the same dietary manipulations. However, beige mice, which are homologues for the Chediak-Higashi syndrome, developed a smaller number of much larger lysosomes which were structurally similar to the lysosomes in potassium-deficient normal mice. It is concluded that the large lysosomes in the renal papillae of beige mice originated by fusion of smaller lysosomes and that the smaller lysosomes arose by the same mechanism as the lysosomes in the potassium-deficient normal mice.