Influence of vincristine on the Golgi complex of leukaemic lymphoblasts.

In vitro and in vivo effects of vincristine on the Golgi complex of leukaemic lymphoblasts were studied. The cells incubated in vitro for 4 hours with vincristine of 1.25 x 10(-5) M concentration lacked microtubules, but regularly contained paracrystals and parallel arrays of macrotubules associated with ribosomes. The Golgi complex in control lymphoblasts was represented by 1-3 dictyosomes (stacks of cisternae) grouped in one area. After exposure to vincristine the dictyosomes lay at a considerable distance from each other. In many of them the cisternae were shorter than in controls and distended or transformed into large vacuoles. In cells incubated in vitro with lower concentrations of vincristine (1.25 x 10(-6) and 1.25 x 10(-7) M) and in cells obtained after the second therapeutic dose of vincristine (in the course of normal clinical treatment) neither changes in the Golgi complex nor formation of paracrystals and macrotubules were observed.