[Effects of N-(P-carboxylpheyl)-retinamide on ECa109-C3 cells in vitro--observation with transmission electron...

The effect of retinamide on the subcellular structure of esophageal cancer epithelial cells(ECa109-C3) was observed by transmission electron microscope. Cells, treated with 10 micrograms/ml retinamide for 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 days, gave the following changes: 1. The number of the microvilli decreased. 2. The number of the tonofilaments and desmosomes increased. 3. polyribosome decreased in amount or disappeared. 4. The ratio of the nucleus/cytoplasm reduced. These changes varied with the time of retinamide treatment. In the early stage, the structural changes, resembling that in ECa109-C3 cells treated with DMSO, showed some characteristics of the normal esophageal epithelial cells. These results show that the retinamide can induce the differentiation of the esophageal epithelial cancer cells. In the late stage, the retinamide caused the swelling of mitochondria, blurring of cristae, dispersion of Golgi complexes, appearance of more lysosomes and degeneration of cancer cells.