Multipolar mitosis

Multipolar mitosis
Abberant mitotic figures, where the chromosomal material is pulled to more than two poles. Multipolarity is usually a phenomenon associated with the increase in centrosome number. The fate of multipolar spindles is still under discovery, but it appears that various outcomes are possible. First, the poles may coalesce back together and the cell might divide in a bipolar fashion producing two daughter cells. Second, the cell might give rise to more than two cells not necessarily equal to the number of poles observed during metaphase. Third, the cell might arrest without ever completing cytokinesis. In cases where cell division takes place following multipolar mitosis, it is almost impossible for cells to aquire proper distribution of chromosomes, hence multipolarity is considered a major source of genomic instability.