Electron microscopy of thick (0.2-1.0 micron) sections of cytochalasin D-treated cells fixed in the presence of Ruthenium red revealed an extensive, surface-connected tubular compartment in HEp-2 cells. The tubules measured 120-220 nm in diameter and at least up to 6 microns in length. Morphometric analysis showed that in control cells about 0.2% of the total plasma membrane area (defined as al...

Neutrophils play an essential role in innate immunity due to their ability to migrate into infected tissues and kill microbes with bactericides located in their secretory granules. Neutrophil transmigration and degranulation are tightly regulated by actin cytoskeleton. Invading pathogens produce alkaloids that cause the depolymerization of actin, such as the mold alkaloid cytochalasin D. We stu...

The ability of cytochalasin B to inhibit ruffled membrane activity and cellular locomotion of vertebrate cells in monolayer culture prompted its use to study the necessity for this kind of active cellular locomotion in cell sorting in heterotypic cell aggregates. Cell sorting was inhibited in chick embryo heart-pigmented retina aggregates but a remarkable degree of sorting did occur in neural r...

The effects of phalloidin and cytochalasin D, drugs which, respectively, stabilize and destabilize actin microfilaments, have been tested on isolated rat hepatocytes. Both drugs produced a modification of cell shape, characterized by protrusions bulging from the cytoplasm. In phalloidin-treated hepatocytes, an accumulation of actin microfilamentous network was detectable at the base of each pro...

Treatment of NIH 3T3 cells with cytochalasin D (10 mM, 1 h at 37 °C) disrupted the actin cytoskeleton and changed the cells from a planar, extended morphology, to a rounded shape. Calcium mobilization by ATP or by platelet-derived growth factor was abolished, while the ability of thapsigargin (2 mM) to empty calcium stores and activate calcium influx was unaffected. Similar experiments with noc...

When growth-arrested GC-7 cells, a cell line from African green monkey kidney, are stimulated with 10% calf serum, they enter S phase 14-15 h later. Cytochalasin D at 0.6 micrograms/ml blocks the entrance into S phase, and inhibits, though only partially, the increase in protein synthesis after serum stimulation. Since partial inhibition of protein synthesis by cycloheximide interferes with acc...

Polypeptide constituents of the lens glucose transporter have been identified by photoaffinity labelling with cytochalasin B. The urea-insoluble fraction of monkey lens was irradiated at 280 nm for 30 min in the presence of 5 X 10(-7) M 3H-cytochalasin B. After extensive washing, the membranes were solubilized and their polypeptide composition determined by SDS-PAGE. Radioactivity was extracted...

Gokina, Natalia I., and George Osol. Actin cytoskeletal modulation of pressure-induced depolarization and Ca2 influx in cerebral arteries. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 282: H1410–H1420, 2002. First published December 16, 2001; 10.1152/ajpheart.00441.2001.—The objective of this study was to examine the role of the actin cytoskeleton in the development of pressure-induced membrane depolarizati...

Elucidating the signalling pathways that regulate chondrocyte differentiation, such as the actin cytoskeleton and Rho GTPases, during development is essential for understanding of pathological conditions of cartilage, such as chondrodysplasias and osteoarthritis. Manipulation of actin dynamics in tibia organ cultures isolated from E15.5 mice results in pronounced enhancement of endochondral bon...

OBJECTIVES This study sought to determine the safety, feasibility and outcome of local delivery of cytochalasin B at the site of coronary angioplasty. BACKGROUND Previous failures in the pharmacologic prevention of restenosis may have been related to inadequate dosing at the angioplasty site as a result of systemic drug administration. Alternatively, although previous experimental protocols h...