Effects of nifedipine, verapamil, and diltiazem on tip growth inFunaria hygrometrica

Protonemata ofFunaria hygrometrica Sibth. were treated with nifedipine, verapamil, or diltiazem. Responses to each of the drugs were, on the one hand, reduction of growth rate and tip cell length and, on the other hand, formation of apical swellings in caulonema tip cells and of anomalously oriented separation walls between main filaments and young side branches. The first effect is regarded as a more general expression of inhibition while the second complex of effects is attributed to perturbations in directed vesicle transport. Replacement of drug-containing media by normal Knop agar demonstrated the reversibility of inhibitor action: growth parameters were comparable to those of control protonemata within a few hours. A fast reaction, the formation of subapical vacoules, occurred within minutes of drug application and was only observed with verapamil and diltiazem. In connection with this process, rapid migrations of chloroplasts took place, but examination of the microtubule cytoskeleton in such cells by indirect immunofluorescence with a monoclonal antibody against tubulin showed an intact microtubule network. callose deposits in tip cells treated with verapamil. They were polarly distributed and started to appear in cell apices about 2h after the beginning of verapamil application. Two mechanisms of action for the tested inhibitors are discussed: (i) perturbations of membrane permeability by interference with one or more of the cell's Ca(2+)-transport systems, and (ii) a more indirect mechanism affecting vesicle transport via the microfilament system.