[Differences in the ribosome state of nerve cells detectable by acridine orange fluorochrome staining]

Acridine orange (AO) binding with ribosomal RNA in the cytoplasm of nerve cells depends on the animal functional state to differ in active and hibernating ground squirrels. These differences are expressed as changes in the ratio of red and green AO luminescence intensities. The transition of squirrels from the activity to hibernation provokes a five-fold fall in the red luminescence, while the green one shifts no more than by 10%, thus indicating the change in AO interaction with one-helical regions of rRNA only. The red luminescence decreases simultaneously with the rise of monoribosomes portion and dissociation of polysomes, but does not depend on RNA concentration in the cytoplasm. The dependence of AO binding on protein-RNA interaction in the one-helical regions and its relation to the capacity of ribosomes of protein synthesis are discussed.