title: Critical electrolyte concentration of heterochromatin and euchromatin in cells of starved animals.
abstract: The critical electrolyte concentration (CEC) of chromatin, considered to be the salt concentration at which the phenomenon of metachromasy is completely abolished, when using toluidine blue as the cationic dye and Mg2+ ions as inorganic cations, was determined for the euchromatin and chromocentral heterochromatin of cells from starved animals. The objective was to determine variations in CEC induced by the starvation stress, which could be related to structural alterations and/or to the composition of these chromatin types. The cells investigated were from Triatoma infestans Malpighian tubules and mouse liver. It was found that the CEC values were affected both by fasting and by refeeding, the effect varying according to chromatin type and the cell system under consideration.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cell Biology, Institute of Biology, UNICAMP, Campinas, Brazil.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Amaral
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Mello
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002988:Cloaca / Q000378:metabolism*; D006570:Heterochromatin / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism*; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D015636:Magnesium Chloride / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008297:Male; D008317:Malpighian Tubules / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000503:physiopathology; D051379:Mice; D008808:Mice, Inbred CBA; D013217:Starvation / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014224:Triatoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D014225:Triatominae / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D006570:Heterochromatin; D015636:Magnesium Chloride