Nuclear activity in tissue cultures

Abstract

The extrusion into the cytoplasm of the cell, of a portion of its nuclear content, has been described as occurring during metabolic activity in various types of cells (1, 4). In some cases the material discharged from the nucleus has been regarded as of nucleolar (plasmosomic) origin, while in others it has been said to be derived from the chromatin. As the cells of tissue culture preparations are particularly favourably disposed for cytological examination, it was considered probable that they might show indications of the occurrence of nuclear-cytoplasmic interaction. A study of living and fixed tissue culture preparations was, therefore, undertaken. For this purpose Dr. A. H. Drew kindly placed at my disposal his excellent material, and Dr. A. Begg allowed me to make use of living cultures prepared by him in the course of his research.