Cytoplasmic microtubules of normal and tumor cells of the leopard frog. Temperature effects.

The cytoplasmic microtubule complex (CMTC) was examined in monolayer cultures of normal tadpole mesonephros, primary renal adenocarcinoma, and an established cell line derived from a pronephric renal adenocarcinoma (PNKT-4B) of the leopard frog, Rana pipiens. Immunocytochemistry revealed typical arrays of microtubules extending from the cytocentrum to the cell periphery in all three cell types when cultured at 28 degrees C; similar results were obtained at 20 degrees C. However, the CMTC was disorganized in both tumor types, in contrast to the retention of a typical CMTC in normal tissue cultured at 7 degrees C. The response of PNKT-4B cells differed from that of normal tadpole mesonephros when treated with the microtubule inhibitor drug nocodazole. At 28 degrees C, PNKT-4B and tadpole mesonephros cells lost their CMTC with nocodazole treatment, and both were able to reconstitute CMTC when nocodazole was removed. Similarly, both lost CMTC organization with nocodazole and culture at 70 degrees C. However, while normal cells could effect a recovery at 7 degrees C after the removal of nocodazole, PONKT-4B cells were unable to restructure CMTC under the same conditions. Metastasis in the frog renal adenocarcinoma is temperature-dependent, with an elevated prevalence of metastasis in tumor-bearing frogs maintained at 28 degrees C. Few metastatic colonies are detected in tumor-bearing frogs maintained at a low temperature (7 degrees C). Other studies have indicated that microtubules, which are essential for cell motility, play an important role in the invasion by tumor cells of normal tissue fragments in vitro. The effects of temperature on metastasis of the Lucke renal adenocarcinoma are consistent with temperature-mediated changes in tumor-cell CMTC.