Spindle disturbances in mammalian cells. III. Toxicity, c-mitosis and aneuploidy with 22 different compounds. Specific and unspecific mechanisms

Early investigations have shown that many chemically different compounds can cause disturbances of the spindle function (c-mitosis) in eukaryotic cells and that there is an unspecific (physical) mechanism based on the partitioning of the compound into cellular hydrophobic compartments. This suggests that the approach should be quantitative when testing compounds for this type of activity in vitro; effect/no effect is not the most pertinent question. The present study demonstrates how a set of reference compounds can be used in attempts to identify compounds that act by a more specific (chemical) mechanism to disturb the spindle function. All experiments were performed with an established cell line (V79 Chinese hamster). The results suggest that there is a good qualitative coupling in these cells between c-mitosis and aneuploidy with chemical treatment. Among compounds that are particularly active in relation to their lipophilic character are some chlorophenols, caffeine, diamide, diethyl maleate, 1-chloro-2,4-dinitrobenzene and tertiary butylhydroperoxide. This points to Ca2+-sequestering by mitochondria and/or cellular pH regulation (chlorophenols), Ca2+ release and sequestering by the endoplasmic reticulum (caffeine), enzymatic conjugation to glutathione (diethyl maleate, chlorodinitrobenzene) and hydroperoxide metabolism (t-butylhydroperoxide) as important target functions for specific activity.