Heat shock alters centrosome organization leading to mitotic dysfunction and cell death.

To identify the cellular target(s) responsible for thermal killing in the G1 phase of the cell cycle, synchronous cultures of Chinese hamster ovary cells (CHO) were heat shocked and studied for one cell cycle by time-lapse videomicroscopy and immunocytochemistry. At the first mitosis post-heating, the fraction of cells giving rise to multinucleated progeny approximately equaled the nonclonogenic fraction. In addition, the cells yielding multinucleated progeny were delayed in prophase-metaphase relative to the cells yielding two uninucleated progeny (clonogenic cells). To study the basis for the delay in prophase-metaphase and subsequent formation of multinucleated cells, cells in mitosis were examined by immunofluorescence for spindle abnormalities. Multipolar mitotic spindles and chromosome misalignment were induced by heat. All multiple spindle poles induced by heat stained for pericentriolar material (PCM), the microtubule nucleating material of centrosomes. Heated cells in mitosis also contained additional foci of PCM which were not associated with the spindle. Cells made thermotolerant by a nonlethal heat shock were resistant to both thermal killing and the induction of multiple foci of PCM. Quantitative analysis revealed a good correlation between the fraction of cells with multipolar spindles, the fraction with more than two foci of PCM, and the nonclonogenic fraction. These data indicate that heat-induced alterations to the PCM of centrosomes resulted in multipolar mitotic spindles, delay in prophase-metaphase, and formation of multinucleated cells which were nonclonogenic. These results identify the centrosome as a G1 target for cell killing.