The disappearance of the nuclear lamina during spermatogenesis: an electron microscopic and immunofluorescence study.

The nuclear lamina is a proteinaceous layer lying directly beneath the inner nuclear membrane in somatic cells. Here we demonstrate by indirect immunofluorescence and electron microscopy that the lamina is completely absent from the nuclei of spermatocytes and spermatids of the chicken. The absence of a lamina in these cells can also be demonstrated in isolated nuclei lacking the two nuclear membranes. Implications of this finding for possible functions of the nuclear lamina are discussed.