RELATIONSHIP OF MICROTUBULE ORGANIZATION IN LYMPHOCYTES TO THE CAPPING OF IMMUNOGLOBULIN

  • 1 January 1981
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 24  (1) , 1-8
Abstract
A double fluorescence staining procedure was used to examine the distribution of antitubulin-staining structures in mouse splenic lymphocytes induced to patch and cap surface Ig by treatment with anti-Ig antibodies. A well-organized network of fibers, extending from a single microtubule organizing center (MTOC) associated with the centriole pair, was detected by antitubulin staining at all stages of the capping process. In lymphocytes possessing an intact network, the cap was formed and internalized over the region of the cytoplasm containing the organizing center, Golgi apparatus and most other organelles. In lymphocytes which had been subjected to a colchicine treatment sufficient to completely disassemble networks prior to cap induction, no relationship was detected by immunofluorescence between the position of the centrioles (a marker for the MTOC) and the location of the surface cap. EM observation of colchicine-treated cells, induced to cap by ferritin-conjugated anti-Ig, revealed extensive disorganization of cytoplasmic organelles and exclusion of organelles from the region underlying the cap. A role for the microtubule network of lymphocytes in maintaining cytoplasmic polarity and in specifying the site of Ig cap formation was indicated.

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