The influence of culture method on the satellite association pattern in human lymphocytes: macroculture versus microculture

The frequency and pattern of satellite association (sa) were studied in short‐term blood cultures from 7 normal persons. From each person, pairs of samples were analyzed after growth in macroculture and microculture, respectively. Consistent differences were found between the two series of samples: in relation to the macrocultures, the microcultures showed an increase in percentage of cells with one or more sa complexes (Table 1), in the number of sa complexes per cell (Table 2), and in the number of associating acrocentrics (Table 3 and 4). Most of these differences were statistically significant. The present results are opposite to those of Zang and Back (1968), obtained in similar experiments. The necessity of further elucidation of how methodological factors influence the study of sa is pointed out.