Actin involvement in apoptotic chromatin changes of hemopoietic cells undergoing hyperthermia

During apoptosis, cell chromatin undergoes characteristic morphological changes, which have been long described in a variety of experimental models but are mostly not yet understood. The aim of the present study was to investigate the mechanisms underlying this phenomenon and the possible role of cytoskeleton, in particular actin. The chosen apoptotic model were HL60 hemopoietic cells undergoing hyperthermia and the starting point was the observation of thin filament bundles in decondensed chromatin of their early apoptotic nuclei. The characterization of these structures was undertaken by cytochemical, fluorescent and immunogold techniques, directed to actin identification. Taken together, our results suggest, in apoptotic cells, a deep actin rearrangement. Moreover, this cytoskeletal component, never present in normal nucleus, appears in the early apoptotic one, where it can be found in polymerized form, promptly recognizable both by conventional and immunogold electron microscopy. We suggest that, similarly to the role played by nuclear matrix in interphase and mitotic nucleus, actin could be directly involved in chromatin rearrangement occurring in apoptosis.