ABSTRACT
The effect of the administration of seven doses of the hepatocarcinogen thioacetamide on the chemical composition of rat liver nuclear envelope subfractions: associated chromatin, nuclear membranes and pore complex-lamina fraction, is analyzed. No alteration in DNA, RNA or phospholipid content is observed after the hepatocarcinogen treatment. Electrophoretic studies of each subfraction from thioacetamide treated rats show differences in the relative proportions of some polypeptides when compared with the controls. Examination of the wheat germ agglutinin binding polypeptides of each subfraction reveals a decrease in the stain of two pore complex-lamina nucleoporins of 85 and 164 kDa and an increase in one of 93 kDa; this observation can be due to changes in the quantity and/or in the agglutinin binding capacity of the nucleoporin as a result of thioacetamide administration. In view of the participation of nucleoporins in the nucleocytoplasmic transport, the changes observed suggest a relationship between changes of some O-linked N-acetyl glucosamine polypeptides components of the nuclear pore complex and the altered transport of some RNA species observed after thioacetamide administration.