Developing bristles in Drosophila pupae contain 7-11 bundles of crosslinked actin filaments and a large population of microtubules. During bristle growth the rate of cell elongation increases with bristle length. Thin section EM shows that bundle size is correlated with the amount of cytoplasm at all points along the bristle. Thus, as the bristle elongates and tapers, fewer actin filaments are ...

Hexylene glycol buffered at pH 6 .4 (7) will preserve microtubules from mammalian brain in homogenates (9) . The observations presented here show that hexylene glycol is better than ethanol or sucrose for preserving the microtubules ; nevertheless, the concentration of microtubules decreases with time even in the presence of hexylene glycol . Cold, autolysis, divalent cations, and mitotic spind...

Pharmacological evidence is presented for the involvement of microtubules in the process of fast axoplasmic transport. A quantitative measure of the inhibition of axoplasmic transport in an in vitro preparation of rat sciatic nerve is described. The alkaloids colchicine, podophyllotoxin, and vinblastine, which are known both to disrupt microtubules and to bind to the protein subunit of microtub...

objective(s): crocin, as the main carotenoid of saffron, has shown anti-tumor activity both in vitro and in vivo. crocin might interact with cellular proteins and modulate their functions, but the exact target of this carotenoid and the other compounds of the saffron have not been discovered yet. microtubular proteins, as one of the most important proteins inside the cells, have several functio...

Many cell types contain a subset of long-lived, 'stable' microtubules that differ from dynamic microtubules in that they are enriched in post-translationally detyrosinated tubulin (Glu-tubulin). Elevated Glu tubulin does not stabilize the microtubules and the mechanism for the stability of Glu microtubules is not known. We used detergent-extracted cell models to investigate the nature of Glu mi...

Several estrogens of diverse classes, namely stilbene estrogens, steroidal estrogens, phytoestrogens, mycoestrogens, lignans, and bisphenol A, were studied for their ability to interfere with the assembly of microtubules under cell-free conditions. Inhibition of microtubules in intact cells may lead to the induction of micronuclei and aneuploidy and thereby contribute to estrogen-mediated carci...

Microtubules are used as targets for anticancer drugs due to their crucial role in the process of mitosis. Recent studies show that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) can be classified as microtubule-stabilizing agents as they interact with protein microtubules (MTs), leading to interference in the mitosis process. CNTs hold a substantial promising application in cancer therapy in conjunction with other c...

We have shown that the benzimidazole carbamate, parbendazole, is a potent inhibitor of microtubule assembly in vitro and in vivo. Radiolabelled parbendazole was shown to bind to purified tubulin. Immunofluorescence studies using antitubulin antibody showed that parbendazole effectively depolymerizes cytoplasmic microtubules in animal cells leaving only one or two microtubules associated with on...

Mitotic inhibitors (colcemid, colchicine, and vinblastine) initiate DNA synthesis in dense stationary cultures of mouse embryo fibroblast-like cells. This initiation is not due to any changes in local cell population density. Relationships between the activation of proliferation and other changes of interphase fibroblast-like cells produced by the mitotic inhibitors (disappearance of cytoplasmi...