title: Altered cell shapes in fibroblasts treated with 5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine: relation to morphogenesis of neural cells.
abstract: In the present study, mouse 3T3 fibroblasts and primary human foreskin fibroblasts exposed to MTA (5'-deoxy-5'-methylthioadenosine) were found to achieve neural-like cell shapes and to extend long, multipolar processes rapidly and reversibly. Time lapse recordings and pharmacologic studies revealed that process formation in MTA-treated fibroblasts was mechanistically related to the rapid-onset mode of neurite formation previously characterized in neural hybrid NG108-15 cells. These data, together with evidence presented elsewhere, indicate that MTA selectively reorganizes the mode of expression of a specific cytoplasmic machinery that is active in many types of cells, and which is involved in regulating cell shape and neurite formation in developing neurons.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, University of Chicago, IL 60637.
authors.forename: N R
authors.initials: NR
authors.lastname: Smalheiser
mesh_terms: D000241:Adenosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003839:Deoxyadenosines; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000166:cytology* / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D013872:Thionucleosides / Q000494:pharmacology*
chemical_list: D003839:Deoxyadenosines; D013872:Thionucleosides; C008500:5'-methylthioadenosine; D000241:Adenosine