Effect of methylglyoxal on tumour microtubular protein.

Methylglyoxal inhibits cell division, exerting an antiproliferative action on tumour cells. Supernatants from ascites hepatoma cell homogenate, previously incubated with the aldehyde, showed a decrease in colchicine binding activity dependent on methylglyoxal concentration. In contrast, in vivo treatment of tumour-bearing rats apparently did not cause a significant impairment of microtubular protein, suggesting that the aldehyde interaction with microtubules cannot be considered responsible for its carcinostatic action.