Accumulation of adrenocorticotropin secretory granules in the midbody of telophase AtT20 cells: evidence that secretory granules move anterogradely along microtubules

During the cell cycle the distribution of the ACTH-containing secretory granules in AtT20 cells, as revealed by immunofluorescence labeling and electron microscopy of thin sections, undergoes a cycle of changes. In interphase cells the granules are concentrated in the Golgi region, where they form, and also at the tips of projections from the cells, where they accumulate. These projections contain many microtubules extending to their tips. During metaphase and anaphase the granules are randomly distributed in the cytoplasm of the rounded-up mitotic cells. On entry into telophase there is a rapid and striking redistribution of the granules, which accumulate in large numbers in the midbody as it develops during cytokinesis. This accumulation of secretory granules in the midbody is dependent upon the presence of microtubules. The changing pattern of distribution of the secretory granules during the cell cycle fulfills the predictions of a model envisaging first that secretory granules associate with and move along interphase microtubules in a net anterograde direction away from the centrioles, and secondly that they do not associate with microtubules of the mitotic spindle during metaphase and anaphase.