Fumagillin, an antibiotic isolated from the fungus Aspergillus famigatus and first utilized in the 1950’s for its antiprotozoal and antiamoebic properties, has recently been discovered to be a potent inhibitor of blood vessel growth, termed angiogenesis. A previous study indicated that fumagillin was toxic to murine erythroleukemic cells (MEL BB-88) and HeLa cervical carcinoma cells. This study was initiated to understand what effects the chemical has on the cell surface ultrastructural morphology of these two cancer cell lines.

MEL BB-88 cells were treated with 0.0, 5.0, or 10.0 μg/ml fumagillin for 24, 48, 72, and 96 hours, while HeLa cells received 0.0, 1.0, or 5.0 μg/ml fumagillin for the same time periods. Cells were fixed in 2% glutaraldehyde for two hours, postfixed in 1% osmium tetroxide for one hour, dehydrated in an ascending alcohol series, critically point dried, coated with gold palladium, and observed under an ISI Super III scanning electron microscope