Acridine Orange-Induced Formation of Myeline-Like Structures in Plant Cell Vacuoles

Acridine Orange (AO), a vital fluorescent dye, has been found to induce autophagy of cytoplasmic organelles at lower concentrations. However, when higher concentration (100 ppm) is used the formation of myeline-like lamellar structures (175–200 A0 thickness) in plant vacuoles was observed. These structures appear to be membranous, containing mainly phospholipids. It is proposed that the synthesis of phospholipid is triggered by the cell for providing additional binding sites to AO molecules which accumulate in the lysosmic vacuoles.