Cytological analysis of the response of nucleolar RNA and RNA-binding proteins to oxidative stress in HeLa cells

The organization and functional activity of the nucleoli of mammalian cells can be modified in response to various stress factors. However, data on the reaction of nucleoli to oxidative stress remain limited. In this paper, we have studied the localization of nucleolar RNAs and two RNA-binding proteins--fibrillarin, a pre-rRNA processing factor, and nucleophosmin/B23, a pre-ribosome assembly factor, in HeLa cells exposed to 1 mM H2O2 up to four hours. We have shown that under the conditions used H2O2 does not induce death, but inhibits rDNA transcription, reduces the total RNA content in the cells and the amount of 18S rRNA in the nucleoli, and causes relocalization of fibrillarin and nucleophosmin/B23 to the nucleoplasm. To date, similar changes in the localization of fibrillarin were described in mammalian cells only after HgCl2 treatment. Redistribution of nucleophosmin/B23 observed in H2O2-treated cells occurred in mammalian cells under inhibition of rDNA transcription and early rRNA processing. Overall, this study shows the high sensitivity of the nucleoli of HeLa cells to acute oxidative stress, which is clearly evident on the cytological level.