Polarized light and phase‐contrast studies of stained and unstained plant cell nucleoli

Abstract

Nucleolar morphology in interphase nuclei of non-growing and growing plant cells has been studied by polarized light and phase-contrast microscopy. Variation in the optical properties of the nucleoli in unstained preparations are indicative of different morphological stages of this cell organelle with respect to the physiological status of the cells in which these variations occur. A filamentous nucleolar component, the nucleolonema, was evident in unstained nucleoli of explants cultured in vitro and in hypocotyls of germinating seeds. Unstained and stained preparations indicate that the polarized-light effects observed in nucleoli of previous investigations are primarily associated with this filamentous nucleolar structure.

Intranuclear birefringent inclusions in paraffin sections by polychromatic polarization microscopy

“…They demonstrated that tissue preparation steps such as deparaffinization, hydration and dehydration were important for nuclear birefringence. IBI has also been noted in lemon fruit explant cells cultured in vitro and imaged using polarized light and phase-contrast, but the signal was thought to depend on a filamentous nucleolar component 3 . Other studies have linked nuclear birefringence with lymphocyte activation in rat spleen cell suspensions stained with neutral red 4 and with liquid crystalline chromosome formations noted in dinoflagellate cultures 5 .…”