Synaptonemal complex analysis provides a unique means of visualizing the behavior of meiotic chromosomes. The technique has been applied to the study of normal karyotypes and mutant stocks of mice. Recent work demonstrating the usefulness of SC analysis for the detection of chromosome damage suggests its potential application in a variety of mechanistic and applied studies. Studies investigated cell-stage specific damage included by radiation and expressed as SC and/or metaphase chromosome aberrations. Radiation was found to exhibit a similar stage-specific clastogenic activity for SCs as it does for meiotic metaphase chromosomes. The nature of the chromosome damage detected depend upon the cell stage exposed and on the endpoint harvested for analysis.