Hen oviduct nuclear matrix-bound mature ovalbumin mRNA is released from the matrix in the presence of ATP, while the ovalbumin mRNA precursors remain bound to this structure. Detachment of the mature mRNA from the matrix by ATP as well as ATP-dependent efflux of mRNA from isolated nuclei were found to be inhibited by cytochalasin B. On the other hand, in the absence of ATP, cytochalasin B exclusively caused the release (and nucleocytoplasmic efflux) of the ovalbumin messenger precursors, but not of the mature mRNA. After cytochalasin B treatment, actin could be detected in the matrix supernatant. Phalloidin which stabilizes actin filaments did not cause RNA liberation in the absence of ATP, but inhibited the ATP-induced detachment of mature mRNA. RNA release was also achieved with a monoclonal antibody against actin but not with monoclonal antibodies against tubulin and intermediate filaments. These results suggest that actin-containing filaments are involved in the restriction of immature messengers to the cell nucleus.It is well established that the immature precursors of cytoplasmic mRNAs are restricted to the nucleus [l, 21. Therefore, transport of mRNA from nucleus to cytoplasm is assumed to be associated with a selection of exclusively mature mRNA molecules [2]. In the nucleus the mRNA precursors were found almost quantitatively attached to an internal nuclear structure that has been termed the nuclear matrix [3-91. In contrast to the immature mRNA, only about 30 -50% of the mature mRNA has been shown to be bound to this structure [8, 91. This matrix-bound fraction of the mature mRNA displayed no difference in its binding strength compared with the hnRNA [S, 91. Because the mRNA seems to be largely associated with intracellular structures, both in the nucleus and in the cytoplasm [lo-121, nucleocytoplasmic mRNA transport is considered as a solid-phase, multistep process [2, 131 comprising (a) the release of the mRNA from the matrix, (b) the translocation of the probably carrier-bound mRNA through a nuclear envelope pore complex, and (c) the binding of the transported mRNA to the cytoskeleton. The translocation step has been shown to be mediated by a nuclear envelope nucleoside triphosphatase [13, 141 which is stimulated by the 3' poly(A) sequence of mRNA [15]. This enzyme has been solubilized from rat liver envelopes by Triton X-100 [16] and purified to homogeneity [17]. Recently we demonstrated that the selection of the mature mRNAs for transport into the cytoplasm occurs during their release from the matrix [9]. The