Nocodazole

Nocodazole is an anti-neoplastic agent which exerts its effect by depolymerizing microtubules. Microtubule formation is an important structural feature of cells as they enter mitosis. Several drugs including vincristine and colcemid, are similar to nocodazole in that they interfere with microtubules and cause arrest in G2/M phase of the cell cycle. more...

As "Nocodazole" affects the cellular cytoskeleton, it is often used in cell biology experiments as a control: for example, some dominant negative Rho small GTPases cause a similar effect as "Nocodazole", and constitutively activated mutants often reverse or negate the effect. Also, nocodazole is frequently used in cell biology laboratories to synchronize cells in the G2/M phase. The effects of "Nocodazole" are best observed using confocal microscopy, with methanol-fixed cells stained with the cytoskeleton stain, phalloidin. For Cell synchronization experiments, it is usually used at a concentration of 500ng/mL of culture medium for a duration of 12-18 hrs.

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