PROGRESSIVE CELL SURFACE CHANGES IN 20-METHYLCHOLANTHRENE-TRANSFORMED MURINE EMBRYONAL FIBROBLAST CELLS IN CULTURE

Banerjee K., Das S.K., Mukherjee P.

Scanning electron microscopy (SEM), concanavalin A (Con A) mediated hemadsorption assay and EDTA mediated cell adhesion assay were performed to investigate whether progressive cell surface alterations occurred in 20-methylcholanthrene-induced transformed murine embryonal fibroblast cells in culture. It has been shown under SEM that with the advancement of passages the surface of the cells progressively became ruffled or coarse, long and narrow interconnections between the cells appeared and cells surface varied morphologically. During early to late passage transition of these cells the gradual increase in Con A binding ability was observed as well as progressive decrease in cellular adhesiveness in EDTA mediated cell adhesion assay. This study has revealed that cell surface alteration upon chemical transformation is a gradual multistep process which started during early in vitro passages and got enhanced in the late in vitro passages.