HISTOLOGY AND HISTOPATHOLOGY

Cellular and Molecular Biology

Synaptic behaviour of some structural and numerical chromosome anomalies in female and male rats (Rattus norvegicus)

I. Martínez-Flores1,2, J. Egozcue1,2, Ll. Cabero3 and M. Garcia1,2.

1Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, 2Institut de Biologia Fonamental "V.Villar Palasí" and 3Department of Paediatrics, Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Campus of Bellaterra, Bellaterra,Barcelona, Spain

Offprint requests to: M. Garcia, Department of Cell Biology, Physiology and Immunology, Autonomous University of Barcelona, Campus de Bellaterra, E-08193 Bellaterra, Barcelona, Spain. e-mail: biolmed@cc.uab.es

 

Summary. The processes of synapsis and synaptic adjustment have been detected in some structural and numerical anomalies in two female rat foetuses and in one male rat in the course of a study on X-ray genotoxicity.
The synaptic characteristics and adjustment of one pericentric inversion and a deletion have been analysed by electron microscopy in synaptonemal complex spreads from two female foetuses, and the synaptic behaviour of a trisomy has been studied in a testicular biopsy from an adult male. In a large proportion (from 50% to 90%) of the analysed cells, the abnormal meiotic configuration could not be detected either because the anomaly was present in mosaic from trisomy or because synaptic adjustment had already taken place (inversion) or as result of a combination of two of the above (deletion). Histol. Histopathol. 16, 701-706 (2001)

Key words: Meiosis, Synaptic adjustment, Synaptonemal complexes

DOI: 10.14670/HH-16.701