The cell fixatives formaldehyde and KMnO4 at low concentrations reversibly inhibit the movement of D. discoideum amoebae without directly interfering with cell viability. This inhibition of cell movement is accompanied by the decreased attachment of cells to substratum.When the tenacity and attachment of immobilized cells are artificially increased by compressing cells between two glass surfaces, the amoebae begin to move even in the presence of the fixatives. Amoebae starved for 24 hours, subjected to fixatives and a mineral salt solution in which they remained motionless, maintained chemotactic res acid and only after a few hours of active locomotion became reactive to cAMP.
Wlodzimierz Korohoda, Department of Cell Biology, Faculty of Biochemistry, Biophysics and Biotechnology, Jagiellonian University, Gronostajowa 7, 30-387 Krakow, Poland