Search PubMed⌕ Search

Biomedical subjects

C Borek

Publications and source records attributed to C Borek.

90 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

Scanning electron microscopy of surface features of hamster embryo cells transformed in vitro by X-irradiation.

Scanning electron microscope studies were carried out on Syrian hamster embryo cells transformed in vitro by X-irradiation (300 rads) (X-ray transformed) and on normal nonirradiated and irradiated nontransformed controls. Transformed cells appeared in scanning electron microscopy as pleomorphic, thick cells piling up over each other and exhibiting extensive surface features consisting of microvilli, blebs, and ruffles. These surface structures were seen on single as well as on densely cultured transformed cells during both interphase and mitosis. The complex surface was observed shortly after transformation (on cells of a 20-day-old clone) and seems a permanent feature of the X-ray-transformed cells (present after 8 years in culture). All controls appeared by scanning electron microscopy as regular, flat, and smooth cells which grew in high-density cultures to seemingly contact-inhibited monolayers. During mitosis the normal cells (control, nontransformed) displayed surface excrescences similar to those of the transformed cells making the mitotic normal cells indistinguishable from transformed cells. The complex surface features in the normal cells were temporary and reversed back to characteristic smoothness upon reentrance into interphase.

Agglutination↗

Hyperthermia: biological studies at the cellular level.

Tissue culture techniques were used to study the effect of hyperthermia on several cell types, including normal liver and hepatoma cells, as well as cell lines that have been established in culture for many years. Short exposures (less than 30 min.) at 45 degrees C readily kill a large proportion of cells. The response to heat was strikingly similar in all cells tested, and no preferential killing of neoplastic cells could be demonstrated. By contrast, hypoxic cells were found to be dramatically more susceptible to killing by heat than aerated cells. This is the reverse of the situation for x irradiation. The effectiveness of x irradiation was potentiated by treating the irradiated cells for 20 min. at 43 degrees C, which did not kill a detectable number of cells.

Cell Division↗

Scanning electron microscopy of glucocrticoid-treated hepatocytes and hepatoma cells in culture.

The morphological effects of exposure to hydrocortisone have been examined in two cell lines of liver origin by scanning electon microscopy. In one of these, an aneuploid line derived from a Morris hepatoma, the presence of hormone results not only in a suppression of cell proliferation, but in a marked flattening of the cells and loss of surface microvilli; in the other cell line, a diploid line derived from adult rat liver, the suppression of cell division is less marked, and the morphological effects of the hormone are far less striking. While the suppression of cell division in both of these cell lines is known to be rapidly reversible upon the removal of hormone, the presence of hormone causes the hepatoma cells to assume both monolayer growth characteristics and a morphology resembling those of cells derived from normal liver.

Animals↗

Suppression of DNA synthesis in hepatoma cells exposed to glucocorticoid hormone in vitro.

Glucocorticoid hormone is shown to markedly suppress DNA synthesis in a line of rat hepatoma cells in vitro. In the presence of 300 nM hydrocortisone or 30 nM dexamethasone the incorporation of radioactive thymidine falls to 50% of control levels by 36 hr, and at higher concentrations of hormone inhibition can be noted as early as 12 hr and is nearly complete by 24 hr. This inhibition of radioactive thymidine incorporation reflects a true suppression of DNA synthesis, is accompanied by a corresponding inhibition of cell proliferation, and is readily reversible upon subsequent removal of hormone. In contrast to previously described effects of the glucocorticoid hormones on various cells of lymphoid origin, the inhibition of DNA synthesis in these hepatoma cells is not accompanied by appreciable cell lysis or by degradation of preformed DNA, and even when [(3)H]thymidine incorporation into DNA is inhibited by 90% or more, incorporation of [(14)C]uridine into RNA proceeds with little change. These findings all parallel previous observations on the effects of glucocorticoid hormone on the livers of intact animals and suggest that studies on the mechanism of the inhibition of DNA synthesis in the present more isolated system may lead to a better understanding of the means by which these compounds inhibit liver growth in vivo. Despite the ready suppressibility of DNA synthesis in these hepatoma cells and in two other cell lines of liver origin, none of these cell lines was found to be inducible for tyrosine aminotransferase. The apparent dissociation between two "steroid-sensitive" phenomena is of interest and warrants further investigation.

Animals↗

Neoplastic transformation in vitro of a clone of adult liver epithelial cells into differentiated hepatoma-like cells under conditions of nutritional stress.

Differentiated epithelial cells in contact-inhibited monolayers derived from adult rat liver have been transformed in vitro into epithelioid neoplastic cells under conditions of nutritional stress. The transformed cells maintain their differentiated quality and manufacture serum proteins. They differ from control cultures in the following properties: They are aneuploid, can be agglutinated by wheat-germ agglutinin and concanavalin A, can grow in suspension, and are able to form colonies in semisoft agar. There is no intercellular communication at permeable junctions between the cells; this is demonstrable by electrical measurement or by injection of fluorescein. The cells show invasiveness in culture, and are not inhibited by contact with normal cells. The characteristics of the hepatocytes after transformation in vitro resemble those of epithelioid cells derived from a transplantable hepatoma.

Agglutination↗