Skip to main content
PMC home page
The Journal of Cell Biology logoLink to The Journal of Cell Biology
. 1974 Feb 1;60(2):473–482. doi: 10.1083/jcb.60.2.473

MICROFILAMENTS IN EPIDERMAL CANCER CELLS

Harry L Malech 1, Thomas L Lentz 1
PMCID: PMC2109157  PMID: 4813215

Abstract

The occurrence and structure of microfilaments in epidermal cancers induced in mice by treatment with 3,4-benzpyrene were investigated with the electron microscope. With malignant change, pleomorphic, undifferentiated cells with a cortical zone of microfilaments became increasingly abundant. The microfilaments were 40 Å in diameter and occupied the cortex of the cells beneath the plasma membrane, extended into cell processes, and were situated in the cores of microvilli. At high magnification, the filamentous areas were formed by an interconnected meshwork of filaments which in favorable planes had a polygonal arrangement. When exposed to high concentrations of cytochalasin B, the microfilaments became clumped and moderately disrupted. At the same time, the processes and microvilli of the cells were blunted. The structure of these filaments and their sensitivity to cytochalasin B place them in a class of microfilaments believed to be related to cell motility. Their presence in malignant cells may be correlated with the motile, invasive properties of these cells.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (1.2 MB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. ABERCROMBIE M., AMBROSE E. J. The surface properties of cancer cells: a review. Cancer Res. 1962 Jun;22:525–548. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Abercrombie M., Heaysman J. E., Pegrum S. M. The locomotion of fibroblasts in culture. IV. Electron microscopy of the leading lamella. Exp Cell Res. 1971 Aug;67(2):359–367. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(71)90420-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Allison A. C., Davies P., De Petris S. Role of contractile microfilaments in macrophage movement and endocytosis. Nat New Biol. 1971 Aug 4;232(31):153–155. doi: 10.1038/newbio232153a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Buckley I. K., Porter K. R. Cytoplasmic fibrils in living cultured cells. A light and electron microscope study. Protoplasma. 1967;64(4):349–380. doi: 10.1007/BF01666538. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cloney R. A. Cytoplasmic filaments and cell movements: epidermal cells during ascidian metamorphosis. J Ultrastruct Res. 1966 Feb;14(3):300–328. doi: 10.1016/s0022-5320(66)80051-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Comly L. T. Microfilaments in Chaos carolinensis. Membrane association, distribution, and heavy meromyosin binding in the glycerinated cell. J Cell Biol. 1973 Jul;58(1):230–237. doi: 10.1083/jcb.58.1.230. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Farquhar M. G., Palade G. E. Cell junctions in amphibian skin. J Cell Biol. 1965 Jul;26(1):263–291. doi: 10.1083/jcb.26.1.263. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Franks L. M., Riddle P. N., Seal P. Actin-like filaments and cell movements in human ascites tumour cells: an ultrastructural and cinemicrographic study. Exp Cell Res. 1969 Feb;54(2):157–162. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(69)90227-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Goldman R. D., Follett E. A. The structure of the major cell processes of isolated BHK21 fibroblasts. Exp Cell Res. 1969 Oct;57(2):263–276. doi: 10.1016/0014-4827(69)90150-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Ishikawa H., Bischoff R., Holtzer H. Formation of arrowhead complexes with heavy meromyosin in a variety of cell types. J Cell Biol. 1969 Nov;43(2):312–328. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Malawista S. E., Gee J. B., Bensch K. G. Cytochalasin B reversibly inhibits phagocytosis: functional, metabolic, and ultrastructural effects in human blood leukocytes and rabbit alveolar macrophages. Yale J Biol Med. 1971 Dec;44(3):286–300. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. McNutt N. S., Culp L. A., Black P. H. Contact-inhibited revertant cell lines isolated from SV 40-transformed cells. IV. Microfilament distribution and cell shape in untransformed, transformed, and revertant Balb-c 3T3 cells. J Cell Biol. 1973 Feb;56(2):412–428. doi: 10.1083/jcb.56.2.412. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Morgan J. Microfilaments from amoeba proteins. Exp Cell Res. 1971 Mar;65(1):7–16. doi: 10.1016/s0014-4827(71)80043-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Perdue J. F. The distribution, ultrastructure, and chemistry of microfilaments in cultured chick embryo fibroblasts. J Cell Biol. 1973 Aug;58(2):265–283. doi: 10.1083/jcb.58.2.265. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Pollard T. D., Ito S. Cytoplasmic filaments of Amoeba proteus. I. The role of filaments in consistency changes and movement. J Cell Biol. 1970 Aug;46(2):267–289. doi: 10.1083/jcb.46.2.267. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Pollard T. D., Korn E. D. Filaments of Amoeba proteus. II. Binding of heavy meromyosin by thin filaments in motile cytoplasmic extracts. J Cell Biol. 1971 Jan;48(1):216–219. doi: 10.1083/jcb.48.1.216. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. REYNOLDS E. S. The use of lead citrate at high pH as an electron-opaque stain in electron microscopy. J Cell Biol. 1963 Apr;17:208–212. doi: 10.1083/jcb.17.1.208. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Reaven E. P., Axline S. G. Subplasmalemmal microfilaments and microtubules in resting and phagocytizing cultivated macrophages. J Cell Biol. 1973 Oct;59(1):12–27. doi: 10.1083/jcb.59.1.12. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sanger J. W., Holtzer H. Cytochalasin B: effects on cell morphology, cell adhesion, and mucopolysaccharide synthesis (cultured cells-contractile microfilaments-glycoproteins-embryonic cells-sorting-out). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1972 Jan;69(1):253–257. doi: 10.1073/pnas.69.1.253. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Schroeder T. E. The contractile ring. II. Determining its brief existence, volumetric changes, and vital role in cleaving Arbacia eggs. J Cell Biol. 1972 May;53(2):419–434. doi: 10.1083/jcb.53.2.419. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Spooner B. S., Yamada K. M., Wessells N. K. Microfilaments and cell locomotion. J Cell Biol. 1971 Jun;49(3):595–613. doi: 10.1083/jcb.49.3.595. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Tilney L. G., Mooseker M. Actin in the brush-border of epithelial cells of the chicken intestine. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1971 Oct;68(10):2611–2615. doi: 10.1073/pnas.68.10.2611. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. WOLFF E., SCHNEIDER N. La culture d'un sarcome de souris sur des organes de poulet explantés in vitro. Arch Anat Microsc Morphol Exp. 1957 Apr-Jun;46(2):173–197. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. WOLFF E., WOLFF E. Les résultats d'une nouvelle méthode de culture de cellules cancéreuses in vitro. Rev Fr Etud Clin Biol. 1958 Nov;3(9):945–951. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Wagner R., Rosenberg M., Estensen R. Endocytosis in Chang liver cells. Quantitation by sucrose- 3 H uptake and inhibition by cytochalasin B. J Cell Biol. 1971 Sep;50(3):804–817. doi: 10.1083/jcb.50.3.804. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Wessells N. K., Spooner B. S., Ash J. F., Bradley M. O., Luduena M. A., Taylor E. L., Wrenn J. T., Yamada K. Microfilaments in cellular and developmental processes. Science. 1971 Jan 15;171(3967):135–143. doi: 10.1126/science.171.3967.135. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Yamada K. M., Spooner B. S., Wessells N. K. Ultrastructure and function of growth cones and axons of cultured nerve cells. J Cell Biol. 1971 Jun;49(3):614–635. doi: 10.1083/jcb.49.3.614. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from The Journal of Cell Biology are provided here courtesy of The Rockefeller University Press

RESOURCES