STUDIES ON THE STRUCTURE OF SPERM HEADS OF ELEDONE-CIRRHOSA BY MEANS OF CLSM LINKED TO BIOIMAGE-ORIENTED DEVICES

We have used a confocal laser scanning optical microscope imaging devi ce and a bioimage-oriented workstation equipped for augmented reality to study the helical sperm head of the octopus Eledone cirrhosa. This approach allows us to study different complex organisational motifs du e to the spatial arrangement of linear helical structures. We consider this helical specimen an enlarged copy of one of the most important b iostructures governing cell functioning such as chromatin-DNA. Moreove r, this very same sample is made of highly compacted chromatin that ca n be studied at higher resolution, i.e., by means of scanning force mi croscopy. Fluorescence optical sectioning has been used to enter the s patial organisation. Three-dimensional images of single, twisted, and folded fibers are shown. (C) 1997 Wiley-Liss, Inc.