Skip to content
Human Body Study

Golgi Apparatus

A stack of flattened membrane sacs — the cell’s packaging and shipping department. Also called the Golgi complex.

Schematic of a generalized animal cell A labelled cross-section of a generalized animal cell. Each label links to the article for that part: the cell membrane, cytoplasm, nucleus, mitochondria, ribosomes, endoplasmic reticulum, Golgi apparatus, lysosomes and cytoskeleton. rough ER smooth ER Cell membrane Mitochondria Nucleus Endoplasmicreticulum Lysosomes Cytoskeleton Cytoplasm Ribosomes Golgi apparatus A generalized animal cell — schematic, not to scale. Not every cell contains every structure.

What it does

Section titled “What it does”
  • Receives — takes in proteins and lipids from the endoplasmic reticulum.
  • Modifies — finishes them, often by attaching sugar groups, and sorts them by destination.
  • Ships — packages the finished products into vesicles addressed to the cell membrane, other organelles, or the outside of the cell.

Key idea

Section titled “Key idea”

If the endoplasmic reticulum is the factory, the Golgi apparatus is the sorting and mailing room — it gives each finished molecule its final form and address.