Sensitive period for the induction of endoreduplication by rotenone in cultured Chinese hamster cells.

Rotenone-induced endoreduplication was investigated in Chinese hamster CHL cells. Cell cycle analyses, using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine (BrdU) labeling, revealed that endoreduplication was induced between the G2-phase and mitotic metaphase. Morphological studies indicated that the chromosomes of cells in metaphase at the time of rotenone exposure immediately aggregated. Within 1 h, however, the aggregated chromosomes began to decondense forming telophase nuclei. Cells with aggregated chromosomes were collected by mitotic selection using the mitotic arrestant TN-16 and then cultured for 30 h following rotenone administration. This population of cells demonstrated an extremely high frequency of endoreduplicated metaphases. Further analysis by BrdU labeling indicated that the aggregated metaphases underwent only one round of DNA replication before endoreduplicated metaphases were formed. The most sensitive period for the induction of endoreduplication by rotenone occurs during mitotic metaphase.