Effects of cytochalasin B on the aggregation, electrophoretic mobility and surface morphology of chick neural retina cells.

Over a concentration range of o-5-10 mug/cm-3, cytochalasin B caused a biphasic change in the electrophoretic mobility of disaggregated neural retina cells. An initial rise in anodal mobility at low concentrations of the drug was transformed into a reduction in the mobility below that of the control at a concentration of 10 mug/cm-3. The effect of cytochalasin B was found to be reversible by washing treated cells in cytochalasin B-free media. This was investigated at a concentration of cytochalasin at which the greatest difference existed between the mobilities of the control and experimental cell suspensions. Reaggregation of cell dispersions failed to show any significant difference in the rate of aggregation between cytochalasin B-treated cells and the control. Scanning electron microscopy of cells fixed while in suspension also showed little significant change in the surface morphology upon application of cytochalasin B. In high concentrations of the drug cells appeared somewhat smoother in outline, but no correlation was found between changes in surface morphology and the variations in cell electrophoretic mobility. It is concluded that the observed changes in electrophoretic mobility may be attributed to a binding of cytochalasin B to the cell membrane. This lends support to the hypothesis that the primary site of action of cytochalasin B may be the plasma membrane.