[Population polymorphism of silver-stained nucleolar organizer chromosome regions in man]

Activity of nucleolar organizer regions (NORs) of acrocentric chromosomes determined by Ag-staining was comparatively studied in 40 individuals of Bulgarian and 40 individuals of Russian populations. Chromosome 21 was found to be significantly more often stained in both populations. The other NORs did not differ significantly in staining from the means. No differences were noted between individual NORs, in respect of the intensity of Ag-staining in both populations, except chromosome 15 which showed markedly decreased staining capacity in Russians. The data obtained are compared with those published in literature concerning four other populations.