TY - JOUR A1 - Janevski, J. A1 - Choh, V. A1 - Stopper, Helga A1 - Schiffmann, D. A1 - De Boni, U. T1 - Diethylstilbestrol alters the morphology and calcium levels of growth cones of PC12 cells in vitro N2 - Diethylstilbestrol (DES) is a synthetic estrogen with carcinogenic properties. DES is known to alter cytoskeletal components, including the organization of actin stress fibres in C6 rat glioma cells. ln a test of the hypothesis that DES disrupts actin Filaments of growth cones in neuron-like cells, DES-induced changes in filopodial lengths were quantified in rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells in vitro. DES significantly altered growth cone morphology, with collapse of growth cone filopodia and neurite retraction invariably occurring at a concentration of 10 MikroM. At 5 MikroM DES, transient reductions in total filopodiallengths occurred. At DES concentrations of 0.1 nM and 1 nM, reductions in total filopodiallengths occurred in a fraction of growth cones. Evidence exists which shows that growth cone activity and morphology are intimately linked to Ieveis of intracellular, free calcium and that DES increases such levels. Measurements of free intracellular calcium levels by fluorescence microscopy, at times concurrent with the DES-induced reduction in total filopodial lengths, showed that calcium levels were indeed significantly increased by 10 MirkoM DES. Labelling of filamentaus actin (f-actin) with FITC-phalloidin showed that the f-actin distribution in growth cones exposed to DES could not be differentiated from the distribution found in spontaneously retracting growth cones. Tagether with evidence which showed that growth cone motility was not affected, the results are taken to indicate that DES, rather than acting directly on the cytoskeleton, exerts its effects indirectly, by a calcium-induced destabilization of actin filaments in the growth cone. KW - Calcium KW - Zellskelett KW - Wachstumskonus KW - Diethylstilbestrol KW - Diethylstilbestrol KW - rat pheochromocytoma cells KW - growth cone KW - cytoskeleton KW - calcium Y1 - 1993 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-86858 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Jesaitis, A. J. A1 - Klotz, Karl-Norbert T1 - Cytoskeletal regulation of chemotactic receptors: Molecular complexation of N-formyl peptide receptors with G proteins and actin N2 - Signal transduction via receptors for N-formylmethionyl peptide chemoattractants (FPR) on human neutrophils is a highly regulated process. It involves direct interaction of receptors with heterotrimeric G-proteins and may be under thc control of cytoskeletal clemcnts. Evidencc exists suggesting that thc cytoskeleton and/or the membrane ske1eton determines the distribution of FPR in the plane of the plasma membrane, thus controlling FPR accessibility to different protcins in functionally distinct membrane domains. In desensitized cells, FPR are restricted to domains which are depleted of G proteins but enriched in cytoskeletal proteins such as actin and fodrin. Thus, the G protein signal transduction partners of FPR become inacccssible to the agonist-occupied receptor, preventing cell activation. We are investigating the molecular basis for the interaction of FPR with the membrane skeleton, and our results suggest that FPR, and possibly other receptors, may directly bind to cytoskeletal proteins such as actin. KW - Immunologie KW - chemotaxis KW - formyl peptides KW - receptors KW - actin KW - G proteins KW - cytoskeleton KW - membrane skeleton Y1 - 1993 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-79673 ER - TY - JOUR A1 - Förtsch, Christina A1 - Hupp, Sabrina A1 - Ma, Jiangtao A1 - Mitchell, Timothy J. A1 - Maier, Elke A1 - Benz, Roland A1 - Iliev, Asparouh I. T1 - Changes in Astrocyte Shape Induced by Sublytic Concentrations of the Cholesterol-Dependent Cytolysin Pneumolysin Still Require Pore-Forming Capacity N2 - Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common pathogen that causes various infections, such as sepsis and meningitis. A major pathogenic factor of S. pneumoniae is the cholesterol-dependent cytolysin, pneumolysin. It produces cell lysis at high concentrations and apoptosis at lower concentrations. We have shown that sublytic amounts of pneumolysin induce small GTPase-dependent actin cytoskeleton reorganization and microtubule stabilization in human neuroblastoma cells that are manifested by cell retraction and changes in cell shape. In this study, we utilized a live imaging approach to analyze the role of pneumolysin’s pore-forming capacity in the actin-dependent cell shape changes in primary astrocytes. After the initial challenge with the wild-type toxin, a permeabilized cell population was rapidly established within 20–40 minutes. After the initial rapid permeabilization, the size of the permeabilized population remained unchanged and reached a plateau. Thus, we analyzed the non-permeabilized (non-lytic) population, which demonstrated retraction and shape changes that were inhibited by actin depolymerization. Despite the non-lytic nature of pneumolysin treatment, the toxin’s lytic capacity remained critical for the initiation of cell shape changes. The non-lytic pneumolysin mutants W433F-pneumolysin and delta6-pneumolysin, which bind the cell membrane with affinities similar to that of the wild-type toxin, were not able to induce shape changes. The initiation of cell shape changes and cell retraction by the wild-type toxin were independent of calcium and sodium influx and membrane depolarization, which are known to occur following cellular challenge and suggested to result from the ion channel-like properties of the pneumolysin pores. Excluding the major pore-related phenomena as the initiation mechanism of cell shape changes, the existence of a more complex relationship between the pore-forming capacity of pneumolysin and the actin cytoskeleton reorganization is suggested. KW - Toxikologie KW - pneumolysin KW - pore formation KW - cytoskeleton Y1 - 2011 U6 - http://nbn-resolving.de/urn/resolver.pl?urn:nbn:de:bvb:20-opus-69084 ER -