A comparison of paclitaxel and vinblastine induced giant cell formation in murine NK/Ly lymphoma

Abstract

We compared giant cell formation in murine NK/Ly lymphoma under treatment with anticancer drugs – vinblastine or paclitaxel. It was found that vinblastine caused an appearance of bigger cells than paclitaxel did, whereas paclitaxel induced more rapid formation of giant cells than vinblastine did. Differences were also revealed in morphology of lymphoma cells treated with these anticancer drugs. While vinblastine induced more intensive membrane blebbing comparing with paclitaxel action, paclitaxel induced more pronounced cytosol vacuolization. Evaluation of trans-membrane potential based on studying mitochondrial accumulation of fluorescent dye Rhodamine-123, showed that paclitaxel caused more significant decrease of this potential comparing with vinblastine action. Role of the revealed peculiarities in the action of vinblastine and paclitaxel towards tumor cells are considered.

Keywords

• murine nk/ly lymphoma
• vinblastine
• paclitaxel
• giant cells
• membra­ne blebbing
• cytosol vacuolization
• trans-membrane potential