"First you may want to know a little about the basic structure of the lysosome. Lysosomes are small, spherical, membranous bags enclosing hydrolytic enzymes. These enzymes are digestive chemicals made of proteins which work best at acidic environments around pH 5. There may be several lysosomes in one cell. Lysosomes are most commonly found in the thinner areas of animal cells.
"The next step in understanding the lysosome is to look into how the organelle is formed within the cell. Please explore the following list for illustrations and explanations of the formation and function of the lysosome:
"Lysosomes carry out a process called "autophagy" which recycles the cells own organic materials by engulfing another organelle or small pieces of cytosol. The ingested material and organic monomers are returned to the cytosol for reuse. In this way, the cell is able to continually renew itself.
"The lysosome also digests and removes "worn out" cell parts. This process is called "intracellular digestion" and it provides energy for the cell during times of starvation (i.e. when there are no food vacuoles entering the cells for the lysosome to digest).
"In some cases, the lysosome will collectively destroy the entire cell; this is either a programmed feature or it occurs when the cell is "worn out" and can no longer continue to perform normal cellular functions. The release of the strong hydrolytic enzymes contained within the lysosome is often related to the tenderness and inflammation caused by rheumatoid arthritis and gout. Progammed destruction of cells is important in the development of organisms, for example, lysosomes destroy the cells of the tadpole tail as it transforms into a frog.
"The cell is normally protected from the hydrolytic enzymes by the lysosome membrane, but should this membrane break down and excessive leakage occur, from multiple lysosomes, programmed or not, the entire cell will be destroyed by autodigestion. For this reason, the lysosome is often dubbed the 'suicide-sac'."
Fawcett, Don W. M.D. An Atlas of Fine Structure. W.B. Saunders Co.; Philadelphia and London: 1966, pp.189.
Oram, Raymond F. Merrill Biology: Living Systems. Merill Publishing Co.; Columbus, Ohio: 1989, pp. 82-83.