Induced differentiation and gap junction formation of murine embryonal carcinoma cells / 中国病理生理杂志

ABSTRACT

Based on the work we have previously done, the experiments presented here indicate that ?aS1, a mutant of the P19 line of routine embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells, can be induced to differentiate by retinoic acid (RA), but is not sensitive to DMSO. Also there is a dynamic equilibrium achieved by a balance between the processes of ?aS1 cell proliferation and differentiation when exposed to certain RA concentrations. The ?aS1 cell has a lower ability for forming gap junctions as compared with the other mutants, showing that EC cell mutants could be defective in the development of a certain gap junction type. In the RA-treated mixed aggregates of P19 and RAJH6, only P19 cells differentiated continuously but the surviving fraction of RAJH6 cells in the presence of 6-TG kept unchanging. The result suggests that the undifferentiated and differentiating EC cells can be metabolically coupled by gap junctions. Our work may further the understanding of cell differentiation, congenital abnormality and tumor reversion.