A comparison is made of the ultrastructure of the cell periphery in three cloned cell lines: untransformed Balb/c 3T3 cells, SV40-transformed Balb/c 3T3 cells, and revertant cells obtained from the transformed cell line by a selection technique utilizing concanavalin A. Both thin-section and surface replication techniques are used for in situ examination of the cell lines. Microfilaments, 70 Å in diameter (called alpha filaments), are abundant in untransformed and revertant cell lines, particularly in the anterior expansions of the cells, which tend to have many microvilli and small pseudopodia. Alpha filaments are diminished in the anterior expansions of transformed cells, which contain large blunt pseudopodia and relatively few microvilli. Surface replicas confirm the impression gained from thin sections that transformed cells have a greater proportion of their cell surface involved in bulging pseudopodia than either untransformed or revertant cells. Since alpha filaments are shown to bind heavy meromyosin and are similar to F-actin, these filaments are thought to be important in cell motility. These observations suggest that a close relationship exists between decreased alpha filaments, bulging pseudopodia, and loss of contact inhibition of movement in transformed cells.
Article|
February 01 1973
CONTACT-INHIBITED REVERTANT CELL LINES ISOLATED FROM SV40-TRANSFORMED CELLS : IV. Microfilament Distribution and Cell Shape in Untransformed, Transformed, and Revertant Balb/c 3T3 Cells
N. Scott McNutt,
N. Scott McNutt
From the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
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Lloyd A. Culp,
Lloyd A. Culp
From the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
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Paul H. Black
Paul H. Black
From the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
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N. Scott McNutt
From the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
Lloyd A. Culp
From the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
Paul H. Black
From the Departments of Pathology and Medicine, Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02114.
Dr. McNutt's present address is the Aerospace Medical Research Laboratory, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio 45433. Dr. Culp's present address is the Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio 44106.
Received:
June 20 1972
Revision Received:
September 15 1972
Online ISSN: 1540-8140
Print ISSN: 0021-9525
Copyright © 1973 by The Rockefeller University Press
1973
J Cell Biol (1973) 56 (2): 412–428.
Article history
Received:
June 20 1972
Revision Received:
September 15 1972
Citation
N. Scott McNutt, Lloyd A. Culp, Paul H. Black; CONTACT-INHIBITED REVERTANT CELL LINES ISOLATED FROM SV40-TRANSFORMED CELLS : IV. Microfilament Distribution and Cell Shape in Untransformed, Transformed, and Revertant Balb/c 3T3 Cells . J Cell Biol 1 February 1973; 56 (2): 412–428. doi: https://doi.org/10.1083/jcb.56.2.412
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