Histochemical properties of spermatozoa and somatic cells. II. Differences in the Feulgen hydrolysis pattern induced through alterations of the nucleoprotein complex

Abstract

In this investigation we have studied the influence of the protein components of different types of chromatin on the acid hydrolysis pattern of DNA. The addition of NaCl or mercaptoethanol or both to the hydrolysis bath was found to increase considerably both the depurination and the depolymerization speed. These treatments were also found to alter the form of the hydrolysis patterns obtained under standard conditions for a number of cell types. Thus salmon and bull spermatozoa, which are widely different in their BAO-hydrolysis patterns when hydrolysed in pure acid, exhibit close similarities in their pattern after the addition of NaCl and mercaptoethanol to the hydrolysis bath. The spermatozoan DNA seemed to be stabilized in a much simpler way than the somatic cells, e.g. ascites cells and avian erythrocytes, which were far more resistant to the treatments. The results point towards the existence of functional similarities in the examined types of spermatozoa.