Cytogenetic characterization of the TM4 mouse Sertoli cell line. I. Conventional banding techniques, FISH and SKY

Permanent Sertoli cell lines provide an ideal system for the in vitro analy sis of function and responsiveness to biochemical/hormonal factors of this particular cell type. In general, cytogenetic analyses of cell lines often reveal remarkable chromosomal changes that may be associated with functiona l characteristics. In the present study we investigated the mouse Sertoli c ell line TM4 by C-banding, silver staining, FISH and spectral karyotyping ( SKY). A highly increased chromosome number (average 85-95) as well as five stable marker chromosomes were detected by the conventional staining techni ques. SKY identified the markers as a translocation chromosome T(1;3), isoc hromosomes 11 and 18 and two different-sized microchromosomes. The results show the usefulness of combining SKY and conventional banding methods for t he evaluation of chromosome alterations in widely used cell lines. Copyrigh t (C) 2001 S. Karger AG, Basel.