1952 Volume 17 Issue 4 Pages 345-367
1. The TCs and PMCs taken out from the anther of Tradescantia, Allium, and Canna into different kinds of mol/l sucrose solution and into liquid paraffin were studied.
2. The osmotic pressure of the vacuoles in the cytoplasm of the TCs of Tradescantia as well as of Allium is very high, so that when enough water is given to the TCs, they absorb it and swell until the structure in the cell loses its identity.
3. TCs surrounding the PMCs in the IM prophase are soft and elastic or rather fluidic, so that they spread around the PMCs even when the PMCs are separated from each other. The TCN at least in Allium, however, keeps its structure, probably the metabolic action too, throughout the meiotic stages until the pollen grains develop in the anther.
4. In the TCs of Tradescantia there appears a large quantity of raphides which show that a special physiological action is taking place in them.
5. The osmotic pressure of the TCN increases during the meiotic stages of the PMC proceeding from the premeiotic stage to the end of meiosis; in Allium it corresponds to the sucrose solution 0.4M to 1.0M. The osmotic pressure of the PMC in the corresponding stage is somewhat lower than that of the TCN.
6. The CPN in both TC and PMC has the highest water absorbability and swells enormously when it is treated with lower osmotic sucrose solution. The ability in the chromosome elements in the same nucleus is lower than the CPN, and that of the nucleolus the lowest.
7. The equilibrium of the surface of the CPN is in a very high tension, so that a stick with the micro-needle, the treating with dilute acetic acid, and a shock such as is given by the squeezing out of the mass of PMCs covered with the TCs, break it and the hygroscopic sur-face membrane of the CPN sucks water from the chromosomes and other surrounding substances, swells and pushes off the shrunken chromosome elements to a corner of the nuclear cavity, i.e. a state called ‘Vitalentmischungsartefakt’ by Bêlar reveals.
8. When enough water is given to the PMC, the CPN swells absorbing water and its surface reaches the cell membrane and pushing off the cytoplasm and also the secret, comes out into the medium and there expands enormously, probably until it reaches the monomolecular layer, if no inhibition is given from outside. The chromosomes follow the CPN, and loosen the spirals and elongate by themselves in the CPN, but do not dissolve in it.
9. When a part of the CPN was extruded from the nucleus into the cytoplasm it develops as a vacuole by absorbing water.
10. It is considered that the hyaloplasm of the cytoplasm is also considered to be the derivative of the CPN. The mechanism of the penetration of foreign substances such as viruses into the cytoplasm was discussed.
11. The chemical nature of the CPN is not known for certain yet, but the staining reaction, its behaviour in the sucrose solution, and the semipermeability lead us to consider that it is a certain kind of the lipopepteids.
12. The CPN in the IM prophase of the PMC of Allium odorum contains the pectic substance and callose. These carbohydrates control the expansion of the surface membrane of the CPN.
13. The behaviour of the chromosomes in the IM prophase may be controled by the condition of the CPN.
14. It was also considered that the structure of the IM prophase chromosome in vivo is to be represented by that of the fixed one under the adequate controls.
15. The phenomenon of the ‘Lichtleere’ is discussed.
