Are microtubules essential for the secretory process in rat parotid gland?

The role of microtubules in the exocrine secretory process is not yet well established, and their disruption by anti-microtubule drugs leads to variable effects on intracellular transit and protein secretion. We investigated the involvement of microtubules in the regulated secretory process of rat parotid glands using microscopic techniques and pulse-chase experiments. We showed that 10 microM colchicine or nocodazole destroys the microtubule network in parotid acinar cells but only weakly reduces the release of newly synthesized proteins. The half-effect was obtained with 0.22 microM colchicine. Moreover, this small reduction was found to be independent of the nature of the drug (colchicine, colcemid, or nocodazole) and of the nature of the stimulation (beta-adrenergic or cholinergic pathways). Using nocodazole, we have been able to determine that the steps affected by the drug are very early events in the secretory pathway. Finally, we showed by kinetic analysis that microtubule disruption slows protein release only moderately but does not reduce the total amount of secreted protein. We conclude from this study that microtubule integrity is not essential for protein secretion in rat parotid gland.