[en] Chinese Hamster chromosomes R-banded in vitro were gamma-irradiated and chromatid breaks and rearrangements examined by electron microscopy employing whole-mounting technique. Breaks were preferentially located at the point of transition between G- and R-bands where the chromosome showed an average diameter 71.65 % of the wide condensed R-bands. This result was similar to the average diameter of narrow G-bands. Three chromosomes which were thin sectioned presented their broken terminal end organized as a coil constituted by two 23 nm wide chromatin fibers coiling together. Coils diameter was 43.70 % of the mean chromatid diameter. The border of damage-breakage was analyzed in whole-mounted chromosomes where breaks were photoinduced in BrdU-substituted DNA. Measurements of the angle of the sharp border of damage with respect to the chromatid axis showed a tendency to be more perpendicular as condensation progressed. These results clearly correlate with the several levels of chromatin fiber organization of the metaphase chromosome. (author)