Migratiory patterns of pigment granules in Puntius melanophores after treating them with colchicine

Abstract

Intracellular transport comprises the movement of organelles along microtubules or actin filaments by means of opposite polarity of microtubule motor (MT) or actin dependent motor of myosin family. When the pigment granules migrate from the cell center, they result in increased colouration of the animal means dispersion of melanophors and alternatively they may aggregate in the cell centre and the animal appears less coloured. To investigate a role of colchicine, we examined the isolated scale equilibrated in physiological saline, than immersed in colchicine at varying concentration (10-6 to 10-4M) and next treated with epinephrine. Colchicine (10-4M) effectively blocked the epinephrine induced melanosome aggregation in melanophores on scale preparation, implicated a role for microtubules in transport of melanosomes in the cell. The drug affect the microtubules intracellularily and colchicine (10-4M) effectively blocked the epinephrine induced melanosome aggregation in melanophores, implicating a role for microtubules in transport of melanosomes in the cell.