Achromatic spindle

The achromatic spindle, meiotic spindle or mitotic spindle is the set of microtubules that sprout from the centrioles during division processes cell, either mitosis (mitotic spindle) or meiosis (achromatic or meiotic spindle), and that go from the kinetochores of the chromosomes to the centrioles at the poles. They originate in the centrosome (in the animal cell) or in the microtubule organizing center (in the plant cell). In metaphase, all the chromosomes are arranged in the equatorial plane of the dividing cell, and during anaphase, each of the two chromatids into which a chromosome divides is pulled toward one of the two poles of the cell by these microtubules.. The kinetochores are protein sheets located in the centromeres of the chromosomes in which the microtubules of the mitotic or achromatic spindle are anchored.

Description

The structure of the mitotic spindle is organized when the eukaryotic cell is going to undergo mitosis or meiosis, specifically during the stage whose name is prophase. In the interface, therefore, it is not present. The function of the mitotic spindle is to link the chromosomes by their kinetochores (prophase), to locate them at the equator (metaphase) and to move them towards the poles of the cell (anaphase). In this way, the equal distribution of chromosomes occurs during cell division. When the cell is in telophase, the mitotic spindle and asters (small microtubule fibers around the centrioles, or microtubule organizing center) are disorganized.

The prefix of the word a-chromatic “a-” means without, and “chromatic” means “color”. This tells us that Spindle Achromat does not stain with commonly used staining methods. An example of this would be orcein A or orcein B, which are dyes used in some cell stains. Therefore, it is not possible to observe the achromatic spindle in the light microscope.