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A stereologic electron microscope study of “tubular myelin figures” in alveolar fluids of rat lungs

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Summary

The three-dimensional structure of a composite material found in alveolar exudate of oxygen poisoned lungs but also present in normal lungs is stereologically analysed. It is composed of tubules of 450 Å diameter which are tightly packed in a quadratic lattice. The wall of the tub vile is formed by “four-winged” osmiophilic filaments which are located in the corners of the quadratic lattice; their interior is made up of a hydrophilic substance which contains either a tubule or a filament of moderate electron density. The osmiophilic substance of the walls is continuous with associated myelin figures which can be resolved into lamellae with a periodicity of 42 Å and can thus be considered to be water crystals of phospholipids. The nature of the content of the tubules, which presumably exerts the formative force on the phospholipid lamellae to form tubules, remains undetermined.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Abteilung für Elektronenmikroskopie, Anatomisches Institut der Universität Zürich, Schweiz

    Ewald R. Weibel, Gonzague S. Kistler & Gian Töndury

Authors
  1. Ewald R. Weibel
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  2. Gonzague S. Kistler
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  3. Gian Töndury
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Dedicated to Prof. W. Bargmann in honor of his 60th birthday.

The research reported here has been sponsored by the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der wissenschaftlichen Forschung (Nr. 2569); by the Stiftung für wissenschaftliche Forschung an der Universität Zürich; by the National Institutes of Health, USPHS, through grant RF-57; and the 6570th Aerospace Medical Research Laboratories under contract AF 61(052)-784 through the European Office of Aerospace Research (OAR), United States Air Force.

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Weibel, E.R., Kistler, G.S. & Töndury, G. A stereologic electron microscope study of “tubular myelin figures” in alveolar fluids of rat lungs. Z.Zellforsch 69, 418–427 (1966). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406293

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00406293

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