A calcium-rich intraspindle membrane system in spermatocytes of wolf spiders

The meiotic spindle of spermatocytes of two wolf spiders contains a highly organized system of ER-like membranes. In cells observed ultrastructurally at early prometaphase, these membranes completely invest each bivalent and are present in the periphery of the spindle in association with the centrosomes. By metaphase each bivalent and its kinetochore fibers are completely encased in a tube of this membrane. We have treated living spermatocytes with the permeant, fluorescent-chelate probe, chlorotetracycline (CTC) to determine whether or not the intraspindle membrane system is rich in associated Ca2+. Spider testes were dissected into PIPES-buffered saline containing 200 microM CTC and were kept in this solution for 10 min. Autofluorescence controls were prepared by incubation in saline without CTC, and nonspecific effects of CTC were assessed by incubation for 10 min in 200 microM oxytetracycline (OTC). Neither unstained nor OTC-treated spermatocytes emit significant fluorescence. In contrast, CTC treatment yields bright, punctate fluorescence, which coincides with the distribution of the mitochondria. The plasma membrane is only weakly fluorescent, while the nuclear envelope exhibits prominent fluorescence. The chromosomes are not fluorescent during prophase, but after nuclear envelope breakdown, they become outlined by dim, but distinct fluorescence. As spindle formation commences, the CTC signal from the intraspindle membrane system becomes strong. In some cells, thin lines of CTC fluorescence are apparent in the metaphase half spindle; this fluorescence pattern mimics the distribution of the intraspindle membrane system and suggests that it is rich in associated Ca2+. We suggest that the intraspindle membrane system functions in the regulation of cytosolic Ca2+ during meiosis through sequestration of the cation.