Coordinate effects of Concanavalin A on cytoskeletal organization, cell shape, glycosaminoglycan accumulation and exoglycosidase activity in chick embryonic cultured fibroblasts.

The effects of Concanavalin A on cell morphology, cytoskeleton arrangement and some metabolic activities of 11-day chick embryo fibroblasts were examined. In fibroblasts, Con A caused a dose-dependent round morphology and a change in tubulin, actin and alpha-actinin arrangement, whereas it did not modify 3H-thymidine incorporation. In addition, lectin stimulated more hyaluronic acid than sulphated glycosaminoglycan synthesis, affected glycosaminoglycan sulphation, and also reduced beta-N-acetyl-D-glucosaminidase, beta-N-acetyl-D-galactosaminidase and beta-glucuronidase activities.