Abstract
SOME structural details of human somatic chromosomes cannot be examined by light microscopy because of their size and because of insufficient contrast after staining, nor can they be viewed by phase contrast. Barnicot and Huxley1 attempted to get more information about fine structure from transmission electron microscopy. They stained unsectioned chromosomes with uranyl acetate and lead hydroxide, but the structure appeared somewhat diffuse and in spite of a slight gain in the clarity of the image no additional features were revealed. Perhaps an ordered structure in the unfixed chromosomes was lost by the preparative procedures. Because of its tedious nature this technique is useful for special purposes rather than for routine examination.
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References
Barnicot, N. A., and Huxley, H. E., Ann. Hum. Genet., 25, 253 (1961).
Turpin, R., and Lejeune, J., Les Chromosomes Humains (Gauthier-Villars Paris, 1965).
Koulischer, L., C.R. Acad. Sci., 256, 3450 (1963).
Krone, W., Bustani, A., and Wolf, U., Humangenetik, 1, 587 (1965).
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CHRISTENHUSS, R., BÜCHNER, T. & PFEIFFER, R. Visualization of Human Somatic Chromosomes by Scanning Electron Microscopy. Nature 216, 379–380 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/216379a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/216379a0
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