A quantitative scanning electron microscopic study of microvilli in interphase and mitosis of carcinogen-transformed fibroblasts.

SEM revealed different surface characteristics of C3H/10T 1/2 cells upon exposure to carcinogens. Long and short microvilli appeared as cytological markers in three morphologically different cell types of different oncogenic potential following exposure to DMBA. The results present evidence that our recording of microvilli in interphase cells is only negligibly influenced by microvilli-bearing mitotic cells. This report further substantiates that the evaluation of the oncogenic transformation in the C3H/10T 1/2 mouse fibroblast cell system by the estimation of cells bearing long microvilli seems to be a new promising approach utilizing SEM.