In order to evaluate at the ultrastructural level the three dimensional chr
omatin arrangement during interphase and particularly during the S phase, t
he immunogold detection of Bromodeoxyuridine (BrdU), as a marker of DNA syn
thesis, was performed in human HeLa, HL 60, and in murine Friend leukemia c
ells (FLC). Field emission in lens scanning electron microscopy analysis of
ultrathin cryosections revealed the presence of a regular three-dimensiona
l network of fibers in dispersed chromatin. This spatial architecture was a
pparently constituted mainly of 10 nm filaments organized in loops of about
80-100 nm. Nodal points and the overlapping of such coils appeared as thic
ker structures of about 30 nm in diameter. Thin filaments of about 5 nm did
not show a regular distribution. This three-dimensional fiber organization
seemed quite constant in the dispersed chromatin of all the cell lines ana
lyzed.
The DNase treatment of the samples selectively removed the 10 nm class fibe
rs, whereas the BrdU labeling confirmed the presence of newly synthesized D
NA organized into chromatin units with a regular arrangement. These data su
ggest that the 10 nm chromatin fiber likely represents the DNA condensation
order at which DNA duplication starts and the main weft of a three dimensi
onal network within the interphase nucleus.