Horký M, Kotala V, Anton M, Wesierska-Gadek J
Department of Pathological Physiology, Faculty of Medicine, Masaryk University, Brno, Czech Republic.
Ann N Y Acad Sci. 2002 Nov;973:258-64. doi: 10.1111/j.1749-6632.2002.tb04645.x.
The nucleolus represents a highly dynamic nuclear compartment of the interphase nucleus. It plays a key role in ribosome biogenesis. The number of nucleoli, their size, and their activity increase in exponentially growing cells; therefore these parameters reflect the proliferating activity of the cells. A variety of staining techniques have been employed to vizualize nucleolar changes in malignant cells. Staining of so-called nucleolar organizer regions (NORs), based upon a strong avidity of nucleolar proteins to bind silver ions, represents the technique most frequently used by pathologists. Nucleolar changes and pleomorphism associated with overt proliferation of tumor cells have also been documented by immunohistochemical and ultrastructural studies. Contrary to cell proliferation, cytostatics-induced changes of nucleolar phenotype in malignant cells point to a potential role of nucleolar components in the execution of active cell death. Recent studies have provided direct clues that so-called death domains and other apoptosis-related proteins are accumulated in nucleoli upon induction of active cell death. It can be concluded that the plurifunctionality of nucleoli regarding cell proliferation and apoptosis could open new vistas toward understanding dysregulation in malignant cells.
核仁是间期细胞核中一个高度动态的核区室。它在核糖体生物合成中起关键作用。在指数生长的细胞中，核仁的数量、大小及其活性会增加；因此，这些参数反映了细胞的增殖活性。已采用多种染色技术来观察恶性细胞中的核仁变化。基于核仁蛋白与银离子的强亲和力对所谓核仁组织区（NORs）进行染色，是病理学家最常用的技术。免疫组织化学和超微结构研究也记录了与肿瘤细胞明显增殖相关的核仁变化和多形性。与细胞增殖相反，细胞抑制剂诱导的恶性细胞核仁表型变化表明核仁成分在主动细胞死亡的执行中具有潜在作用。最近的研究提供了直接线索，即所谓的死亡结构域和其他凋亡相关蛋白在诱导主动细胞死亡时会在核仁中积累。可以得出结论，核仁在细胞增殖和凋亡方面的多功能性可能为理解恶性细胞中的失调现象开辟新的前景。
