Syncytioskeletons in choriocarcinoma in culture

Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy using anti-actin serum has been used to investigate the distribution of actin-containing polymers in BeWo cells. This cell line, derived from a human choriocarcinoma, contains tissue that, like its tissue of origin, is partly syncytial. The syncytial nature has been inferred from study of Nomarski optical sections and from transmission electron microscopy. The multinucleated plaques of tissue possess a syncytioskeleton with a number of actin-containing features characteristic of cultured cells. These include stress fibres, cortical layers and ruffled membranes. Other actin-containing structures are more typical of the related non-pathological syncytiotrophoblast. These include a dense population of microvilli. The overall organization of the actin syncytioskeletons bears no obvious relationship to the number or position of nuclei in the syncytium. Indirect immunofluorescence microscopy has also been employed to localize the protein tubulin in BeWo cells. The microtubules do not appear to be spatially organized by a particular nucleus. Rather, there are numerous microtubule-organizing centres (MTOCs) that exist in the cytoplasm and do not have the expected numerical and positional relationship to nuclei. From these data it appears that polymeric cytoskeletal elements in these syncytia are organized in a manner not immediately subordinate to syncytial nuclei.