Cytochalasin B-induced redistribution of cytokeratin filaments in PtK1 cells

Indirect immunofluorescence demonstrated a dramatic reorganization of cytokeratin filaments produced by cytochalasin B (CB) treatment of PtK1 cells. Much of the normal cytokeratin network became arranged into a latticework consisting of bundles of cytokeratin filaments that radiated from, and interconnected, distinct foci, Electron microscopy showed foci to be dense granular regions through which bundles of cytokeratin filaments looped. Composition of the foci included actin, myosin, and alpha‐actinin, as shown by labeling with rhodamine phalloidin or specific antisera. Simultaneous treatment with CB and colchicine was not required for lattice formation, but did produce more extensive development than did CB alone. In cells treated only with CB, the microtubule network remained intact, even in regions of extensive lattice formation. These results contrast sharply with those of Knapp et al (J. Cell Biol. 97:1788 [1983b]), who found lattice formation dependent upon simultaneous CB and colchicine treatment. Time‐course and dose‐response studies of CB treatment showed lattice formation to follow disruption of stress fibers and the concentration of actin into distinct patches that marked the location of lattice foci. Overall results suggest a structural association between microfilaments and cytokeratin filaments that produces the lattice pattern upon CB‐induced disruption of stress fibers. Lattice formation was not limited to a specific cell‐cycle stage, since G1, G2, and M cells displayed the lattice. Treatment of cells with dihydro‐CB and experiments with enucleated cells showed that lattice formation was dependent upon neither the inhibition of sugar transport nor the nuclear extrusion effects of CB.