Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 4, 2026

Transillumination-Assisted Dissection of Specific Stages of the Mouse Seminiferous Epithelial Cycle for Downstream Immunostaining Analyses
Published on: October 7, 2020
Sex chromatin staining in amnion cells
Blanche Capel1, Jordan Batchvarov
1Department of Cell Biology, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC 27710, USA.
Abstract:
INTRODUCTIONThe procedure described here provides a quick and reliable method for determining the sex of mouse embryos that are <12.5 days post-coitum (dpc). Cells from amniotic membranes are stained with toluidine blue. The presence of a heavily stained condensed chromatin body (i.e., a Barr body) indicates the XX samples. With experience, we find a >95% concordance with genotyping data based on PCR for Y-chromosome sequences in extracted tail DNA. This protocol has the advantage of speed and efficiency: When assembling cultures with live tissue, samples can be sexed in 30 min.
Related Concept Videos
Lampbrush Chromosomes
LBCs are made up of two pairs of conjugating homologous chromatids. Each chromatid consists of alternatively positioned regions of condensed-inactive chromatin and loosely placed-active side loops, which can be contracted and extended. The loops resemble the...
Inheritance of Chromatin Structures
Euchromatin
Euchromatin is the less dense region of the chromatin and stains lighter. Euchromatin contains histone H3 extensively...
Heterochromatin
Constitutive heterochromatin: It is a highly compact region of chromatin that is mostly concentrated in the centromere and telomere. Unlike euchromatin, the amino acid at 9th...
Polytene Chromosomes

