Problems in the study of nuclear fine structure

Abstract

The nucleus, both during interphase and mitosis, has come to be regarded as one of the most difficult of biological objects to study by methods of electron microscopy. Apart from the nuclear envelope there are few land marks and little evidence of order such as we find in collagen or muscle. What organization there may be is distributed in depth in the whole nucleus and so defies all but the most painstaking efforts in serial thin sectioning. It is not surprising, therefore, that the problem has proved discouraging except for the most cfetermined and interested investigators. Of these we have a representative few on the program of this symposium and they will give you some measure of the progress that has been made to date. In view of the difficulties, their achievements must be regarded as impressive.