Chonnam Med J.  2001 Dec;37(4):351-356.

Chromatin Pattern-Dependent mRNA Synthesis in HeLa Cells and HeLa Tumors

• Lee JH
• Kang MW
• Choi C
• Juhng SW

Abstract

Malignant cell nuclei, in general, have increased amount of heterochromatin and decreased electron density of euchromatin, making the chromatin pattern coarser than that of benign cell nuclei. Chromatin pattern in benign and malignant cells, however, is barely explained in terms of molecular structure. In this study, we compared chromatin pattern and transcriptional activity in HeLa cells and cells of HeLa tumors formed by inoculation of HeLa cells into the subcutaneous layer of nude mice. The HeLa cells and HeLa tumor cells were labeled with 3H-uridine and autoradiographed, with or without-amanitin pretreatment. HeLa cells showed silver grains along the nuclear margin or diffusely in the karyoplasm. By pretreatment with alpha-amanitin, the silver grains were noted only in the nucleolus and not in the karyoplasm, suggesting that the grains represented newly synthesized mRNA. The nuclei of HeLa tumor cells showed silver grains mainly at the boundary between the heterochromatin and euchromatin. These findings indicate that, in HeLa tumor cells, transcription is most active at the boundary between the heterochromatin and euchromatin. We suggest that changes of chromatin pattern in malignant cell nuclei may be related to transcriptional activity.

Keyword

Chromatin pattern; Autoradiography; Transcription; HeLa cell

MeSH Terms

Alpha-Amanitin
Animals
Autoradiography
Cell Nucleus
Edible Grain
Chromatin*
Euchromatin
HeLa Cells*
Heterochromatin
Humans
Mice
Mice, Nude
Molecular Structure
RNA, Messenger*
Silver
Alpha-Amanitin
Chromatin
Euchromatin
Heterochromatin
RNA, Messenger
Silver