Abstract
The effect of colchicine on myogenesis in vivo has been studied in the regenerating tadpole tail of the frog, Rana pipiens, and in the abdominal molting muscles of a blood-sucking bug, Rhodnius prolixus Stål. Colchicine is shown to disrupt microtubules in the differentiating muscle cells of both these organisms. The disruption of microtubules is correlated with a loss of longitudinal anisometry in the myoblasts and myotubes of the regeneration blastema in the tadpole tail. Before colchicine treatment, the myotubes contain longitudinally oriented myofibrils. After colchicine treatment, rounded, multinucleate myosacs containing randomly oriented myofibrils are present. It is suggested that the primary function of microtubules in myogenesis in the Rana pipiens tadpole is the maintenance of cell shape. The abdominal molting muscles of Rhodnius undergo repeated phases of differentiation and dedifferentiation of the sarcoplasm. However, the longitudinal anisometry of the muscle fibers is maintained in all phases by the attachments of the ends of the fibers to the exoskeleton, and microtubule disruption does not alter cell shape. The orientation of the developing myofibrils is also unaltered, indicating that the microtubules do not directly align or support the myofibrils in this system.
Full Text
The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.3 MB).
Selected References
These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.
- AUBER J. [Method of growth of myofbrils during nymphosis in Calliphora erythrocephala (Mg.)]. C R Hebd Seances Acad Sci. 1962 Jun 4;254:4074–4075. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- BYERS B., PORTER K. R. ORIENTED MICROTUBULES IN ELONGATING CELLS OF THE DEVELOPING LENS RUDIMENT AFTER INDUCTION. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1964 Oct;52:1091–1099. doi: 10.1073/pnas.52.4.1091. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Borisy G. G., Taylor E. W. The mechanism of action of colchicine. Binding of colchincine-3H to cellular protein. J Cell Biol. 1967 Aug;34(2):525–533. doi: 10.1083/jcb.34.2.525. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Fischman D. A. An electron microscope study of myofibril formation in embryonic chick skeletal muscle. J Cell Biol. 1967 Mar;32(3):557–575. doi: 10.1083/jcb.32.3.557. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- GODMAN G. C., MURRAY M. R. Influence of colchicine on the form of skeletal muscle in tissue culture. Proc Soc Exp Biol Med. 1953 Dec;84(3):668–672. doi: 10.3181/00379727-84-20746. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- HAY E. D. The fine structure of differentiating muscle in the salamander tail. Z Zellforsch Mikrosk Anat. 1963;59:6–34. doi: 10.1007/BF00321005. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Malawista S. E., Bensch K. G. Human polymorphonuclear leukocytes: demonstration of microtubules and effect of colchicine. Science. 1967 Apr 28;156(3774):521–522. doi: 10.1126/science.156.3774.521. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Outka D. E., Kluss B. C. The ameba-to-flagellate transformation in Tetramitus rostratus. II. Microtubular morphogenesis. J Cell Biol. 1967 Nov;35(2):323–346. doi: 10.1083/jcb.35.2.323. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- RENAUD F. L., SWIFT H. THE DEVELOPMENT OF BASAL BODIES AND FLAGELLA IN ALLOMYCES ARBUSCULUS. J Cell Biol. 1964 Nov;23:339–354. doi: 10.1083/jcb.23.2.339. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- ROBBINS E., GONATAS N. K. HISTOCHEMICAL AND ULTRASTRUCTURAL STUDIES ON HELA CELL CULTURES EXPOSED TO SPINDLE INHIBITORS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO THE INTERPHASE CELL. J Histochem Cytochem. 1964 Sep;12:704–711. doi: 10.1177/12.9.704. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Shelanski M. L., Taylor E. W. Isolation of a protein subunit from microtubules. J Cell Biol. 1967 Aug;34(2):549–554. doi: 10.1083/jcb.34.2.549. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
- Taylor A. C. Microtubules in the microspikes and cortical cytoplasm of isolated cells. J Cell Biol. 1966 Feb;28(2):155–168. doi: 10.1083/jcb.28.2.155. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]