The distribution of 10nm filaments and microtubules in endothelial cells during mitosis: double-label immunofluorescence study.

I have used fluorescence microscopy and antibodies to 10nm filaments and tubulin labelled with contrasting fluorochromes to compare the distribution of these proteins in endothelial cells during cell division. During interphase the two filament systems have entirely different distributions: The bulk of the 10nm filaments form a ring that surrounds the cell center and nucleus and remains parallel to the substrate, while the microtubules radiate from the cell center to the cell's border. When the mitotic spindle replaces the radial microtubule pattern in mitosis, the spindle poles remain within--and in close proximity to--the ring of 10nm filaments. This was confirmed by electron microscopy which showed the ring and centrioles in the same plane separated by a distance of 300-400 nm.