Chromosome Number of Human Cervix Uteri

Abstract

IN a recent review, Beatty¹ has shown much evidence in favour of the inconstancy of chromosome number in various somatic tissues of mammals, including man. Sachs², however, did not observe any variation in the chromosome number of human and some other mammalian endometrial tissues from a count of fifty nuclei in each case by using the squash technique. Walker and Boothroyd³, using a similar method, obtained wide variations in the chromosome number in somatic tissues of mouse and to a less extent in human endometrium; but when they employed the membrane and spinning technique³ for the same tissues, the variations were within a narrow limit. Human endometrial tissues have also been examined by me⁴ and by Timonen⁵. Except Sachs², we have found variation of the chromosome number in human endometrium, although my results⁴ agree more with those of Walker and Boothroyd³ in showing a narrower range of variation than those of Timonen⁵. Since the chromosome number of human endometrium is a matter of controversy, I have been studying the chromosome in the epithelium of non-neoplastic cervix uteri with an improved technique⁶. Preliminary results for chromosome counts from one hundred nuclei have been obtained.