Eukaryote chromosomes usually condense during mitosis. Chromosome condensation is strictly regulated by cellular elaborated machinery but the details of the mechanism still remains to be elucidated. Occasionally, chromosomes condense at outside of mitosis under several circumstances (Gotoh et al., 1995; Gotoh and Durante, 2006). This phenomenon is known as premature chromosome condensation (PCC...

This paper describes a method for obtaining metaphase chromosomes from human second polar bodies. The second polar body nucleus was injected into the cytoplasm of an enucleated oocyte, which is activated shortly after injection. When the polar body nucleus is transformed into a haploid pronucleus, treatment with okadaic acid was used to induce premature chromosome condensation. A total of 25 an...

The purpose of this study was to determine the feasibility of using the technique of premature chromosome condensation to detect the in vivo maturation of abnormal elements in patients with chronic myelogenous leukemia (CML), myelodysplastic syndrome, and acute leukemia. Patients were chosen for study if there were a clinical suggestion of in vivo maturation and a leukemic clone exhibiting a di...

In an attempt to understand better the molecular basis of chromosome aberration formation, neocarzinostatin (NCS)-induced damage and repair were compared at the chromosome and DNA levels. Chromosome damage and repair in quiescent normal human fibroblasts (PA2 and DET 550) were assayed by the premature chromosome condensation technique in which the G1 prematurely condensed chromosomes are conden...

To study the possible influence of cell-cycle delay on cells reaching mitosis during conventional radiation-induced chromatid break experiments using colcemid as a blocking agent, we have compared the chromatid break kinetics following a single dose of gamma rays (0.75 Gy) in metaphase CHO cells using calyculin-induced premature chromosome condensation (PCC), with those using colcemid block. Ca...

The mammalian kinetochore is a specialized structure, found at the surface of the primary constriction of metaphase chromosomes, that plays a role in both the capture of spindle microtubules and movements associated with anaphase A (for a review, see Rattner, 1991). The kinetochore is first detected as an aggregate of fine fibrillar material associated with condensing chromatin in midto late-pr...