Structural organization of rat hepatocyte chromatin as visualized in thin frozen sections selectively stained for DNA

We studied the structure of rat hepatocyte chromatin in situ using thin frozen sections selectively stained for DNA after aldehyde fixation. Our results indicate that intranucleolar chromatin is arranged into three different organization levels, confirming the observations on Epon-embedded chromatin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inEuropean journal of cell biology Vol. 33; no. 1; p. 148
Main Authors Derenzini, M, Viron, A, Puvion, E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Germany 01.01.1984
Subjects
Animals
Chromatin - ultrastructure
DNA - analysis
Frozen Sections
Liver - cytology
Liver - ultrastructure
Male
Rats
Rats, Inbred Strains
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Summary:We studied the structure of rat hepatocyte chromatin in situ using thin frozen sections selectively stained for DNA after aldehyde fixation. Our results indicate that intranucleolar chromatin is arranged into three different organization levels, confirming the observations on Epon-embedded chromatin. These are: completely extended DNA filaments, with a thickness of approximately 3 nm, clustered in loose, roundish agglomerates, very long fibers with a thickness ranging from 15 to 35 nm and compact chromatin clumps. Both the fibers and the chromatin clumps frequently appeared to be composed of nucleosome-like particles. In the extranucleolar chromatin, agglomerates of extended DNA filaments and long fibers were never visualized. In contrast to data from Epon-embedded chromatin, we noticed that in frozen sections neither the nucleolar nor the extranucleolar compact chromatin appear to be organized into discrete, 20 to 30 nm superordered fibers.
ISSN:0171-9335