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Pigment movements in fish melanophores: Morphological and physiological studies

III. The effects of colchicine and vinblastine

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Summary

The antimitotic drugs colchicine and vinblastine were applied to the melanophores of isolated scales of Pterophyllum scalare. The time course of inhibition of pigment migrations was studied quantitatively with the photoelectric method.

Within one hour of treatment with 5 mM colchicine, a partial and reversible inhibition of pigment movements is obtained. During this time, the number of microtubules per cell process does not differ significantly from controls when pigment is dispersed. However, their number increases concomitantly with the decrease in rate of aggregation induced by KCl up to about the same value as in dispersed pigment cells. This indicates a close connection between pigment movements and the microtubule turnover known to occur in angelfish melanophores.

When applied in a concentration of 0,2 mM, vinblastine has a total and irreversible effect on pigment movements, with an especially rapid and profound inhibition of pigment dispersion. The fine structure of vinblastine-treated melanophores is characterized by an almost complete loss of microtubules and the appearance of crystalloid bodies, which differ in fine structure from vinblastine-induced crystals of all other cell types so far examined. Possibly their peculiar structure is related to special properties of melanophore microtubules, such as rapid turnover and relatively high resistance to colchicine.

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  1. Arbeitsgruppe Kinematische Zellforschung, Fachbereich Biologie der Johann-Wolfgang-Goethe-Universität Frankfurt a. M., Germany

    M. Schliwa & J. Bereiter-Hahn

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  1. M. Schliwa
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  2. J. Bereiter-Hahn
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This work was supported by a grant from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft.

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Schliwa, M., Bereiter-Hahn, J. Pigment movements in fish melanophores: Morphological and physiological studies. Z.Zellforsch 147, 127–148 (1973). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00306604

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