Passage of Molecules Across the Intercellular Bridge Between Post-mitotic Daughter Cells

Living mitotic HeLa cells were microinjected with sodium fluorescein, fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-labelled IgG, and Lucifer Yellow-CH to determine if the intracellular bridge and midbody forms a barrier to the migration of these molecules. All three fluorescent molecules were found to pass across the intercellular bridge. The post-mitotic cells maintained a molecular patency across the intercellular bridge that persisted for considerable lengths of time, extending into the next cell cycle.