Assessment of the secretory activity of enterocytes in guinea pigs according to the degree of Golgi complexes loading

The Golgi apparatus is a central crossway alongside the secretory pathways. Within the Golgi apparatus, a number of post-translational adjustments of newly synthesized secretory and membrane proteins take place. From the Golgi apparatus, molecules are sorted to a number of other destinations. The aim of the paper is to describe the distribution of the Golgi apparatus in the small and large intestine in the superficial and deep epithelium from guinea pigs. The material was represented by guinea pigs (n=5) that were brought for a complete necropsy survey. The intestinal tissue samples underwent special processing in order to pinpoint the Golgi complexes in the superficial and glandular epithelium from the small and large intestine. Basically, tissue samples were processed by argental impregnation following the Elftman method and subsequently embedded in paraffin. Eventually, the intestinal specimens were sectioned at 5 μm and later assessed with the aid of Olympus BX41 light microscope. The quantitative evaluation of Golgi complexes was performed by counting their number/cell in each region of the small (duodenum, jejunum, and ileum) and large intestine (cecum, colon). A similar amount of Golgi complexes was detected in the superficial and glandular epithelium, in each region assessed from the small and large intestine (p˃0.5). The uppermost number of Golgi complexes was observed in the jejunum in the case of the small intestine, whereas in the large intestine the Golgi complexes prevailed in the colon. Concluding, the main absorptive and digestive role of enterocytes from the covering epithelium of the intestinal mucosa seems to be associated with intense secretory activit