MICROCHROMOSOMES OF THE ONTARIO RED FOX (VULPES VULPES): AN ATTEMPT AT CHARACTERIZATION

1980 ◽  
Vol 22 (4) ◽  
pp. 553-567 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. A. Ellenton ◽  
P. K. Basrur

Characterization of the microchromosomes of the red fox, Vulpes vulpes Linn., was attempted through the examination of mitotic chromosomes using Giemsa banding, quinacrine banding, the silver nitrate-ammoniacal silver technique for staining nucleolar organizers, and autoradiographic procedures. Pachytene cells were examined in air-dried and squash meiotic preparations and in testicular tissue sectioned for light and electron microscopy. The results of banding procedures on mitotic chromosomes and the staining properties of the microchromosomes at pachytene indicated that the microchromosomes likely contain both heterochromatin and euchromatin. Autoradiographic analysis showed that the microchromosomes replicate during mid S phase while the Y chromosome, which is in the size range of the microchromosomes, replicates during late S phase. From these observations, it would appear that the microchromosomes may not be exclusively heterochromatic as hypothesized previously. With the use of the silver nitrate-ammoniacal silver technique, the presence of nucleolar regions were detected on specific macrochromosomes but not on any of the microchromosomes. Examination of pachytene chromosomes in air-dried and squash preparations, and of testicular tissue sectioned for light and electron microscopy, also indicated that the microchromosomes may not be involved in the organization of the nucleolus in the red fox.

Development ◽  
1982 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 225-249
Author(s):  
Charles Cima ◽  
Philip Grant

Development of the Xenopus laevis optic nerve was studied by light and electron microscopy from embryonic stage 26, before the retina has formed, to juveniles, 8 months post-metamorphic. Low-power EM photographs of sections through the retinal optic nerve (RON), middle optic nerve (MON) and chiasmatic optic nerve (CON) were prepared at different stages and the areas containing large axons (0·5 μm) were traced in optic nerve reconstructions. Ordering of fibre size along a dorsoventral axis was noted in the embryonic nerve, and this pattern persisted throughout development. Most large fibres, myelinated and unmyelinated, occupy an eccentric dorsocentral position in the MON while small axons are seen in a ventral peripheral crescent. In the CON, the dorsal one third to one half is occupied by large fibres while the ventral CON contains small fibres exclusively. If, as assumed, large axons are older than small axons (0·1–0·3 μm), then patterns of large and small axons along the nerve might reveal a chronotopic fibre ordering. Chronotopic ordering was confirmed by autoradiographic analysis of the distribution of old, labelled fibres and young, unlabelled newly arriving fibres in optic nerves between stage 51 and 57. The young—old labelling pattern corresponds to the small and large axon patterns respectively, in all sections of the optic nerve. Chronotopic ordering of fibres in the developing optic nerve can be explained, in part, by the dorsoventral asymmetric marginal growth of the developing retina and the phenomenon of fibre following as ganglion cell axons join near neighbour fascicles in the retina, converge at the optic disc and grow through the optic nerve.


1994 ◽  
Vol 107 (8) ◽  
pp. 2191-2202 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. Hozak ◽  
D.A. Jackson ◽  
P.R. Cook

Sites of replication in synchronized HeLa cells were visualized by light and electron microscopy; cells were permeabilized and incubated with biotin-16-dUTP, and incorporation sites were immunolabelled. Electron microscopy of thick resinless sections from which approximately 90% chromatin had been removed showed that most DNA synthesis occurs in specific dense structures (replication factories) attached to a diffuse nucleoskeleton. These factories appear at the end of G1-phase and quickly become active; as S-phase progresses, they increase in size and decrease in number like sites of incorporation seen by light microscopy. Electron microscopy of conventional thin sections proved that these factories are a subset of nuclear bodies; they changed in the same characteristic way and contained DNA polymerase alpha and proliferating cell nuclear antigen. As replication factories can be observed and labelled in non-permeabilized cells, they cannot be aggregation artifacts. Some replication occurs outside factories at discrete sites on the diffuse skeleton; it becomes significant by mid S-phase and later becomes concentrated beneath the lamina.


1963 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 181-194 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alden V. Loud ◽  
Yutaka Mishima

The induction of melanization in xanthic goldfish scales with ACTH in vitro has been studied by light and electron microscopy utilizing ammoniated silver nitrate staining of premelanin and melanin. The melanized cells (melanophores and melanocytes) and the yellow pigmented cells (lipophores and the newly described lipocytes) were found to possess many similarities at the levels of cellular and subcellular structure. The latter cells contain characteristic cytoplasmic bodies which react positively to the premelanin stain. Changes accompanying ACTH stimulation of goldfish scales in tissue culture suggest that these bodies in the lipocytes and lipophores can become melanized. Electron micrographs illustrate the intermediate staining of newly formed melanin granules in an induced melanocyte and the appearance of a transitional melanolipophore. It is postulated that ACTH can promote the association of the enzyme tyrosinase with the preformed structure of unmelanized granules.


2013 ◽  
Vol 60 (2) ◽  
pp. 102-104 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fabio Macchioni ◽  
Luca Chelucci ◽  
Lisa Guardone ◽  
Walter Mignone ◽  
Maria Cristina Prati ◽  
...  

1971 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 475-507 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. KATHLEEN McCULLY ◽  
C. F. ROBINOW

Mitosis in Schizosaccharomyces pombe has been followed in living cells by phase-contrast microscopy and studied in fixed and suitably stained preparations by light microscopy. Successful preservation of nuclear fine structure in this yeast, not previously achieved, has allowed us to confirm and extend the observations made with light microscopy. Without first arranging themselves on a metaphase plate, mitotic chromosomes become grouped in 2 clusters radiating, finger-like, from 2 points of attachment at opposite poles of an elongating nucleus. At these 2 sites electron microscopy reveals the presence of disk-shaped electron-dense organelles which we have called kinetochore equivalents (KCE). At mitosis the KCEs are connected across the nucleus by a narrow bundle of parallel microtubules which we refer to as the spindle. Integration of our observations has led us to propose that at mitosis the separation of the KCEs and their attached chromosomes is initiated by a differential expansion of the nuclear envelope restricted to the region between recently divided KCEs and that expansion of the nuclear envelope later becomes general, resulting in a marked elongation of the nucleus. Displacement of the nuclear contents to the ends of the elongated nucleus gives it the shape of a dumbbell. The elongation of the microtubule bundle keeps in step with the elongation of the nucleus but does not appear to be the cause of it. It may have the function of keeping the separated KCEs rigidly apart. During mitosis the nucleolus persists and stretches out within the unbroken envelope of the nucleus as it elongates. Towards the end of division equal amounts of nucleolar material are found in the rounded ends of the dumbbell-shaped nucleus. The break up of the dumbbell shape into daughter nuclei seems to involve the breaking of its tenuous middle part and a pivoting of its 2 ends in opposite directions. In the course of our work on mitosis we have become aware of features in the cytoplasm of growing S. pombe cells which are described here for the first time. The cells invariably contain several prominent vacuoles containing an extremely electron-dense material which stains metachromatically with toluidine blue and may be polyphosphate. The mitochondria are of special interest for 2 reasons. First, because they have unique mesosome-like membrane invaginations and secondly, because a mitochondrion is regularly associated with the single KCE by the side of the interphase nucleus, as well as with each one of the 2 KCEs that occupy opposite ends of the intranuclear spindle during mitosis.


Author(s):  
Robert L. Corbett

The ammoniacal silver stain for light microscopy of plastic embedded sections has been adapted for use in electron microscopy. Since the silver will stain even very thin sections, i.e., silver and gold for light microscopy, and silver deposits are sufficiently electron dense to be seen in the electron microscope, the results are very useful for correlating light and electron microscopy. Compared to the conventional stains for electron microscopy which usually take over one-half hour, the silver procedure can be done in five minutes or less and thus provides a quick look at sections This stain has more contrast, so it is especially good for low power electron microscopy. The ability of the silver to stain very thin sections enables a correlation between light and electron microscopy in three ways. First, thin sections can be stained with silver on a glass slide and compared with immediately adjacent thin sections on grids stained the usual way for electron microscopy.


1968 ◽  
Vol 16 (12) ◽  
pp. 808-814 ◽  
Author(s):  
LILLIAN R. BERKOWITZ ◽  
OLGA FIORELLO ◽  
LAWRENCE KRUGER ◽  
DAVID S. MAXWELL

The suitability and selectivity of several dyes have been tested on plastic-embedded sections of nervous tissue (0.5-1 µ) prepared for electron microscopy. Methods for plastic extraction and selective staining are described which provide satisfactory differentiation of principle cytologic features with good contrast and clarity of detail. The introduction of a hematoxylin "lake" has achieved the differential staining of oligodendroglia and astrocytes in cerebral cortex. The argyrophilia of cells and cell structure following 10-20% silver nitrate or silver nitrate in combination with ammoniacal silver permits identification of axon terminals.


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