Fig. 8. Formation of Hirano Bodies in L cells expressing the CT Fragment. The distribution of F-actin was determined by staining with oregon green 488-labelled phalloidin as described in Materials and Methods. (A) Cortical actin, stress fibers and few punctate foci characterize the distribution of actin filaments in control cells. (B) Cells transfected with CT fragment exhibit loss of stress fibers and accumulation of punctate F-actin foci. (C-E) Some cells transfected with CT exhibit large elliptical inclusions highly enriched in F-actin that resemble Hirano bodies (marked with arrowheads) (bar, 10 µm). (F) L cells were mock transfected (gray bars) and CT transfected (black bars) and scored for F-actin distribution as: normal (N), most of the actin in cortical arrays and stress fibers; multiple foci (M), most of the F-actin in multiple punctate foci; aggregate (A), contain a large elliptical aggregate resembling a Hirano body. Results are shown as the mean±s.e.m. of six counts from three independent transfections of mock and CT cells. The CT-transfected cells have fewer and less prominent stress fibers and accumulate multiple foci and large aggregates of F-actin.

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