PROTOPLASMIC VISCOSITY CHANGES IN DIFFERENT REGIONS OF THE GRASSHOPPER NEUROBLAST DURING MITOSIS

¹ Department of Biology, University of Alabama

Observations on the rapidity of brownian movement of the mitochondria in different regions of the grasshopper neuroblast during the entire mitotic cycle indicate that:

1) The viscosity of all parts of the cytosome is relatively high during interphase and prophase, begins to fall in late prophase, reaches a minimum at anaphase, and rises gradually to its original high level during telophase.

2) The viscosity of the portion of the spindle between the pole and the plane in which the proximal ends of the chromosomes are situated appears to fall slightly from a high prometaphase level through anaphase.

3) The viscosity of the portion of the spindle situated between the separating daughter chromosome groups shows, during anaphase, a slight drop from a medium value, and this is followed at the beginning of telophase by an abrupt rise to a very high level, which is maintained through early and middle telophase. Alterations in water content and nucleic acid content of the cytoplasm are suggested as possible explanations of viscosity changes during mitosis.