Main Features of Basal Cytoxicity: Sites of Toxic Action and Interaction in the Pollen Tube Cell

Abstract

Pollen tubes have frequently been used to determine the cytotoxic potentials of various chemical compounds and to study the effects of toxic action in the tube cell. In this paper, the main results of these studies are used to develop a model for understanding basal cytotoxicity. The following eight intracellular sites or functions, which are known to play a significant role as targets for toxic action, are considered: mitochondria, intracellular transport, membrane flow, the endoplasmic reticulum and Golgi apparatus, lipid and protein synthesis, carbohydrate synthesis, the cytoskeleton, and the plasma membrane. The reactions of these targets to certain representative cytotoxic compounds frequently applied to pollen tubes are reviewed. These reactions, most of which were observed by using electron microscopy and immunofluorescence microscopy, are discussed in relation to cell growth inhibition. In addition, interactions between the target sites are described and schematically presented. The set of targets mentioned above is representative of what is found in the majority of eukaryotic cell types. Therefore, it is not surprising that many of the cell types which are used in cytotoxicology produce values within the same logarithmic range.