MITOCHONDRIA IN TISSUE CULTURES 



365 



Beckton may have been caused by delay in fixing the material 

 so that the mitochondria became degenerate, or the mitochondria 

 may have been present only as degenerate structures which 

 did not stain. 



Mitochondria in mitosis 



Naturally, the question at once arises: What is the role of the 

 mitochondria during division of the cell? Many observers be- 

 lieve that the mitochondria form a palisade about the spindle 

 during late anaphase and then divide and one-half of each mito- 



■■'K/ 



Fig. 14 Arrangement of mitochondria in the prophase stage; a, from a 3-day 

 culture of intestine from an 8-day chick embryo; X 1080 diam. ; b, from a 3-day 

 culture of intestine from a 7-day chick; X 790 diam.; c, from a 2-day culture of 

 heart from a 5-day chick embryo; X 540 diam. 



chondrium passes to each daughter cell (Benda, Duesberg, Meves, 

 etc.)- Meves ('13) in his work on ascaris egg goes so far as to 

 state that not only are the mitochondria present in the egg and 

 spermatozoon, but also that the male mitochondria are carried 

 into the egg by the spermatozoon and so each egg receives not 

 only female but also male mitochondria and the granules result- 

 ing from the fusion of the male and female mitochondria are 

 distributed to each cell of the embryo. In view of the behavior 

 of the mitochondria Meves suggests that they may play a part 

 in inheritance. 



THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ANATOMY, VOL. 17, NO. 3 



