Fig. 1.

Morphological remodeling of cells with neuron-forming ability. Panel A: progressive cytoplasm shrinkage in rat brain cells in vitro with formation of dendritic trees, typical of multipolar neurons. The cells were cultivated in Neuropan medium after the enzymatic isolation from rat brains. A population of giant, mono- or binucleated cells (A) undergoing progressive cytoplasmic/cytoskeletal structural changes (A-H) and forming “branches” (white arrows, B-D) which ultimately give the cells a multipolar neuron-like appearance. Panel B: cellular remodeling towards neuronal morphologies of SKOV3 cells treated with sub-cytotoxic concentrations of platinum- derived drugs. The formation of neuronal structures reminiscent of multipolar neurons is clearly analogous to normal neuron development observed in brain cells isolated from rats (Panel A). Pictures are representative of several independent experiments.