Aflatoxin B₁ and acetaminophen induce different cytoskeletal responses during prelethal hepatocyte injury

Primary monolayer cultures of adult rat hepatocytes exposed to the hepatocarcinogen aflatoxin B₁ (AFB₁) undergo a characteristic prelethal cytomorphological change that is distinct from their response to the necrogenic noncarcinogenic hepatotoxin, acetaminophen (AAP). Since changes in cell shape are mediated, at least in part, by the F-actin cytoskeleton, we designed experiments to study early prelethal alterations in the distribution of actin microfilaments in monolayer rat hepatocytes exposed to AFB₁ (100 μM) or AAP (16 mM). Using rhodamine-phalloidin fluorescence microscopy, we observed that normal hepatocytes showed a submembranous F-actin distribution with focal short microfilaments extending into filopodia along the periphery of the cell. Hepatocytes exposed to AFB₁ for several hours exhibited retraction of their cytoplasm within a prominent circumferential peripheral band of F-actin microfilament bundles. Retraction of focal areas of peripheral cytoplasm was associated with an increased prominence of the radial F-actin-containing filopodia. Subsequently, there appeared peripheral blebs containing very little F-actin. Hepatocytes exposed to equivalently lethal concentrations of AAP initially remained structurally normal. After several hours, the cells exhibited a prominent polar aggregate of short microfilament bundles without the formation of blebs. Both the blebbing and the polar aggregation of F-actin bundles occurred prior to cell death as shown by lactate dehydrogenase release and trypan blue exclusion. These studies support the hypothesis that the lethal effects of these two agents may occur by different biological mechanisms that are associated with remarkably distinct prelethal cytoskeletal responses.