1. The microbodies

2. introduction
A microbody is a type of organelle that is found in the cells of plants, protozoa, and animals.
The types of microbodies include peroxisomes, glyoxysomes, glycosomes and hydrogenosomes.
In vertebrates, microbodies are especially prevalent in the liver and kidney.

3. Micro bodies model TEM image

5. discovery
Microbodies were first discovered and named in by Rhodin.
Two years later in 1956, Rouiller and Bernhard presented the first worldwide accepted images of microbodies in liver cells.
Then in 1965, Christian de Duve and coworkers isolated microbodies from the liver of a rat.
De Duve named the microbody as peroxisomes because of its relationship with hydrogen peroxide.
In 1967, Breidenbach and Beevers were the first to isolate microbodies from plants, which they named glyoxysomes because they contain enzymes of the glyoxylate cycle.

6. Tem images of Peroxisomes

7. TEM images of Glyoxysomes

8. TEM Images of microbodies

9. Structure
A microbody is usually a vesicle with a spherical shape, ranging from micrometers in diameter.
Microbodies are found in the cytoplasm of a cell, but they are only visible with the use of an EM.
They are surrounded by a single phospholipid bilayer membrane and contain a matrix of intracellular material including enzymes and other proteins.

10. TEM Images of microbodies

11. Confocal microscopic image of animal cell having peroxisomes

13. Functions
Microbodies contain enzymes that participate in biochemical reactions within the cell. This facilitates the breakdown of fats, alcohols and amino acids.
Different types of microbodies have different functions:
Peroxisomes:
Functions to help in the break down of large molecules and detoxify hazardous substances. It contains enzymes like oxidase, which can create hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct of its enzymatic reactions. Within the peroxisome, hydrogen peroxide can then be converted to water by enzymes like catalase and peroxidase.
Glyoxysomes:
These are specialized microbodies found in plants and mold, which help to convert stored lipids into carbohydrates so they can be used for plant growth. In glyoxysomes the fatty acids are hydrolyzed to acetyl-CoA by peroxisomal β-oxidation enzymes. Besides peroxisomal functions, glyoxysomes also possess the key enzymes of the Glyoxylate cycle.