Enucleation of Colchicine Treated Mammalian Cells

Abstract

In 1967 Carter reported that the drug cytochalasin B (CB) causes the nucleus of most mammalian cells growing in monolayer culture to protrude from the cell surface and that a small percentage of these cells spontaneously enucleate. Prescott et al. discovered that by using centrifugation in the presence of CB up to 98% of the cells remaining attached to the substrate can be enucleated. One could thus separate cells into nuclear (karyoplast) and cytoplasmic portions. The surface morphology and fine structure of these components have been described. In another area of research Phillips and Phillips earlier reported that when logarithmically growing mammalian cells were treated with 5.0 x 10-5 M colchicine for 16-36 hours a majority of the cells become micronucleated. Recently Ege and Ringertz reported that colchicine induced micronucleated cells can also be enucleated by combining centrifugation with CB treatment [5].