Evening star., 1944-03-18
Science Finds Secret
OF How Food Builds
Fat in Human Body
BY II. w. BLAKESLEE,
Associated Press science Editor.

AbbuCfAt6u fItAe 0~lCuSt 1oitOG.
NEW YORK.-A long sought Sc
cret Of nutrition has been partly
discovered with the demonstration
that . microscopic particle called q
Golgi body Is the living element
which builds fats and proteins.
What element Of animal body
cells did this was previously un-
known. The proteins are the build
ing blocks Of the body and the Golgi
bodies appear to Be the microscopic
masons. 5'
Their Job is done inside the It's
sue cells which in the human body
number around 4 quadriiiion. The
raw materials are the fats and pro-
teins Of food, after the digestive
system has broken them down, the
blood stream has distributed them,
and they have filtered through the
walls Of the various cells.
In each cell there are from one
to several dozen Golgi bodies. With
In these bodies. the raw materials
are apparently transformed into the
special kinds of fats and proteins
Characteristic Of each tissue.
Existence Was Doubted.
Most Of the Golgi bodies are SO
diminutive-about one-twenty-f1ve
thousandths Of an inch In diameter
land so transparent, that ever
since they were discovered in 1898
by an italian scientist. Camille
Golsi. there has been doubt even
about their existence.
The techniques which helped to
verify them and at the same time
demonstrated pfotosraphically and
by chemical means that the little
bodies were producing fats and pro-
teins, are reported in the Proceed
ings OF the National Academy Of
Sciences by Or. Leonard G. Worley,
and his wife, DR.. Elizabeth K. Wor-
ley, Of the department Of biology,
Brooklyn College, N. Y, and the
Scripps Institute Of Oceanoeraphy
OF the University Of California.
DR.. Worley, 50, Is 1 native Of LIN
coin, Nebr. HIS wife Is from South
Hadley. Mass.
e.. What Made the Mystery.
The mystery about Golsi bodies
was largely due to the fact that
they were not generally believed
to be visible until a tissue cell had
been killed and It's contents rem
dered visible with salts of certain
heavy metals. Then the 0olgi
bodies showed up as rings, rods
ana networks. It had never been
certain that these forms were not
merely precipttafions Of the metal
lie salt.
The corresponding living struc-
lures are in the form Of minute
granules and small balls, quite dif-
ferent in shape from. the Golgil
bodies Of dead cells. These bodies
have been known for years, but I'll
had never been shown conclusively
that they are the living representa-
tive Of the 0olgi apparatus Of the
dead tissue.
Blue Stain Used.
The Wofleys used q methylene|
blue stain which did not kill the
cells or their contents. This dye
colored the little spheres . darker
blue than any Of the other scores
OF particles visible In the cells. Pho
Geographically the Worleys were able
to trace the tran1ition from the
tiny living balls--tlieir consistency
that Of overripe tomatoes Through
the distortion process accompany.
ing death, into the classical and
familiar rings and networks dis
covered by Golgi.
Fully recorded, too, In the pic
lures was the behavior Of the liv.
ing Golgi bodies in the elAbora.
ton Of fats and proteins. Each
blue bail would begin to swell. InI
several hours It's diameter might
expand as much As 10 times, and
its volume l0o-fold.
Part of this swollen particle
would become nearly white, while
the rest remained dark. The dark
portion would continue to enlarge,
and soon from this dark mass tiny
droplets by the dozens would leave
the Golgi body. Chemical exami-
nation showed that these droplets
were tat.
Dark Mas Shrinks.
Later, the dark mass would be-
gin to shrink away from the large,
light-colored portion Of the Golgi
body. The latter was found to be
largely protein.
After both fats and proteins had
been discharged, the Golsi body
would shrink, sometimes to 4 little
granule again, sometimes breaking
into dozen or more little particles.
In either event, these particles
start the cycle over again.
The Worley's studies have been
done mainly on the tissues of mol
luses and amphibians, with other
species of animals to back up the
observations. The probability is
strong that the human Golgi bodies
perform precisely similar nutrition