Abstract
IT is now possible to isolate and determine quantitatively the ribonucleic acid from individual nerve cells1,2. As ribonucleic acid can no longer be considered to be a tetranucleotide structure, methods for nucleotide analysis are of great interest. Thus, the composition of ribonucleic acid has been found to vary in different organs and even within the cell3. It takes a very active part in the different functional phases of the individual cell4. A knowledge of its purine–pyrimidine chemistry during these phases could therefore be expected to throw some light on the nature of its action. Existing methods for nucleotide analysis by paper chromatography5 or ionophoresis6 require amounts of ribonucleic acid in the range 100–1,000 µ;gm. For a more sensitive modification of these techniques, a few micrograms suffices7. Individual nerve cells contain 200–1,000 pgm. of ribonucleic acid (1 pgm. = 10−12 gm.)2, or about one-millionth of that necessary by these methods. To permit analysis even of these small amounts the following method has been worked out.
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EDSTRÖM, JE. Nucleotide Analysis on the Cyto-Scale. Nature 172, 809 (1953). https://doi.org/10.1038/172809a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/172809a0
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