ABSTRACT
The relationship between donor age and the growth characteristics of normal human smooth muscle cell cultures derived from aorta and stomach was examined in a series of growth studies. A negative correlation was demonstrated between donor age and growth potential of both cell types in primary culture. This decreased growth potential of cultures derived from older donors was maintained in later passage cultures. The results suggest that the culture of human aortic and gastric smooth muscle cells from older donors is more difficult and that any cell cultures established may be limited by poor growth characteristics.
Subject(s)
Aging/physiology , Muscle, Smooth/cytology , Adolescent , Adult , Aged , Aorta, Abdominal/cytology , Cell Division/physiology , Cells, Cultured , Child , Humans , Middle Aged , Muscle, Smooth/ultrastructure , Stomach/cytology , Stomach/ultrastructureABSTRACT
Flow cytometry was performed on stored frozen tissues and explant cell cultures from 39 meningiomas using ethidium bromide and mithramycin in a selective staining technique for deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). The ploidy index and percentage of cells in the G0/G1, S, and G2/M phases were calculated for each specimen. The results were compared with the age and sex of the patients; the site, the histological subtype, and mitotic rate of the neoplasms; and the estrogen- and progesterone-receptor levels assayed in cytosol-enriched supernatants from cryostat-cut sections. Sixteen neoplasms (41%) were aneuploid. These included two recurrent neoplasms, seven of the eight neoplasms from patients with multiple meningiomas, and three clinically aggressive neoplasms (one hemangiopericytic and two anaplastic meningiomas). Significant correlations were found between values for the ploidy index (r = 0.75, p less than 0.01), the percentage of S-phase cells (r = 0.82, p less than 0.01), and the percentage of G2/M-phase cells (r = 0.69, p less than 0.05) in vivo and in vitro. The results support the suggestion that flow cytometry for DNA in meningiomas may be of value in predicting the behavior of these neoplasms, and indicate that under controlled conditions explant cell cultures may provide a useful model for the proliferative characteristics of meningiomas in vivo.
Subject(s)
DNA, Neoplasm/analysis , Meningeal Neoplasms/genetics , Meningioma/genetics , Brain/pathology , Cell Division , Cells, Cultured , Female , Flow Cytometry , Humans , Male , Meningeal Neoplasms/pathology , Meningioma/pathology , Middle Aged , PloidiesSubject(s)
Bone Neoplasms/metabolism , Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent/metabolism , Osteosarcoma/metabolism , Parathyroid Hormone/metabolism , Adenylyl Cyclases/metabolism , Alkaline Phosphatase/blood , Animals , Bone Neoplasms/pathology , Cells, Cultured , Neoplasms, Hormone-Dependent/pathology , Osteosarcoma/pathology , Prostaglandins E/metabolism , Prostaglandins F/metabolism , RatsABSTRACT
1. A human cancer cell line (COLO 16) derived originally from an epidermal squamous cell carcinoma was found to possess adenylate cyclase responsiveness to beta-adrenergic agonists. 2. The adenylate cyclase response was characterized with respect to activation constants (KA) for various beta-adrenergic agonists and inhibition constants (Ki) for antagonists. 3. Intact cells responded with dose-dependent increases in production of cyclic adenosine 3':5'-monophosphate. 4. Properties of the beta-adrenergic receptor were evaluated by using the specific binding of [3H]propranolol to cell membranes. Specific binding was saturable, with KD 5.79 nmol/l and binding sites 0.68 pmol/mg of protein. 5. Competition for binding to cell membranes was shown by beta-adrenergic agonists and antagonists and was stereospecific. There was close agreement between the affinity of these various agents on adenylate cyclase and receptor binding. 6. It is likely that the beta-adrenergic receptor-linked adenylate cyclase in COLO 16 cells represents persistence in a cancer cell line of a receptor present normally in epidermal cells.
