Time course of vinblastine-induced autophagocytosis and changes in the endoplasmic reticulum in murine pancreatic acinar cells: a morphometric and biochemical study

The time course of the vinblastine(-sulfate; 10 mg/kg body weight, single injection)-induced enlargement and subsequent regression of the autolysosomal compartment was studied by electron microscopic morphometrical and cell biochemical methods in order to gain information concerning some key problems of this major route of intralysosomal degradation of the cell's endogenous macromolecules and structures. Detailed analysis of the dynamics of the total autophagic vacuole (AV) compartment and its different subcompartments (early, advanced, late, and fused AVs), as well as of changes of rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum (RER) showed: 1. Pancreatic acinar cells react to vinblastine biphasically, i.e. two expansion phases of the AV compartment, the first in the 0 to 90 min and the second in the 2 to 8 h post-injectional periods, were detected. 2. Fusions of AVs are not inhibited by vinblastine, at least during the second expansion phase when cytoplasmic volume fraction (CVF) of fused AVs steadily increased until the 12th h. Fusion of early, advanced and late AVs or composition of fused complex vacuoles (AVc) are somehow regulated, as the proportion of the three AV stages from the CVF of AVc, was maintained constant throughout the second expansion phase. 3. Stimulation of autophagosome formation and resulting substrate overload seems to be the primary mode of action by which vinblastine causes the enormous expansion of the autolysosomal compartment. 4. Degranulation of the rough-surfaced endoplasmic reticulum (RER) membranes occurs in a biphasic fashion, similarly to the volume and surface changes of the AV compartment, thus supporting our previous hypothesis, that labilization or change of RER may have a role in the formation of autophagosomes. 5. Vinblastine-induced autophagocytosis is a selective process, as mitochondria, Golgi elements and zymogen granules are very much underrepresented, whereas RER is more than twice overrepresented in the volume of early AVs, when compared to their volume fraction in the whole cytoplasm. 6. Immunogold electron microscopy revealed the presence of ubiquitinylated proteins in advanced and late, but not in early AVs.