Morphological and functional reconsideration of the cytoplasmic bridges which connect male germ cells in snails

Abstract

Cytoplasmic bridges (CB) between male germ cells of three fresh-water snails have been examined by electron microscopy, using ultrathin sections and freeze-fracture replicas prepared by ordinary methods and after use of filipin for indicating the presence of membrane cholesterol. The bridge plasma membrane, which was formerly considered to be smooth, was found in these snails to be corrugated. The corrugations were periodically parallel and oriented parallel to the axis of the bridge. The mature bridges showed very low densities of intramembranous particles. No filipin-sterol complexes formed on either the P face or the E face of the bridge plasma membrane, in contrast to plasma membranes elsewhere. The numbers of corrugations in each CB varied with the species. The membrane corrugations overlie bundles of electron dense fibers measuring approximately 30 nm in diameter and 60 nm in center-to-center distance, fitting into convexities of the plasma membrane. The present observations lead us to the necessity of reconsidering the morphological and functional aspects of cytoplasmic bridges in vertebrate as well as in invertebrate germ cells.