Microtubule-organizing centers and cell migration: effect of inhibition of migration and microtubule disruption in endothelial cells.

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Abstract
Microtubule-organizing centers (MTOC) become preferentially oriented towards the leading edge of migrating [porcine] endothelial cells (EC) at the margin of an experimentally induced wound made in a confluent EC monolayer. To learn more about the mechanism responsible for the reorientation of MTOC and to determine whether a similar reorientation takes place when cell migration is inhibited, the wounded cultures were incubated with colcemid (C) and cytochalasin B (CB), which disrupt microtubules (MT) and microfilaments (MF), respectively. The MTOC reorientation can occur independent of cell migration since MTOC reoriented preferentially toward the wound edge in the CB-treated cultures, even though forward migration of the EC was inhibited. The MTOC reorientation is inhibited by C, indicating that it requires an intact system of MT and/or other intracellular structures whose distribution is dependent on that of MT.