What are some biological examples in which lysosomic enzymes play a fundamental role?
The remodelation of the osseous tissue, the function of acrosomes in sperm cells and the elimination of the tadpole tail are examples of biological processes in which lysosomic enzymes are key factors. The bone is a tissue made of osteoblast- containing matrix (osteoblasts are the secretory cells of the osseous matrix), osteocytes (mature bone cells) and osteoclasts (the remodeling cells). Osteoclasts are responsible for the continual renovation of the osseous tissue since their lysosomic enzymes digest the osseous matrix. The sperm acrosome, for carrying digestive enzymes within, is responsible for the perfuration of the egg cell membrane in the fertilization process. The acrosome, located in the anterior end of the sperm cell, is a specialized region of the Golgi apparatus that accumulates a great amount of digestive enzymes. In tadpoles the tail regresses while the organism develops into an adult frog. This tissue destruction is a digestion of the tail's own cells and extracellular materials and it is made by lysosomes and their enzymes. The complete digestion of a cell by its own mechanisms is called autolysis, a type of apoptosis (cell suicide).
