Characterization of Three Human Cell Lines by Chromosomal Complement and by Certain Biochemical Parameters. Reversible Alteration of Isozyme Patterns by Different Media2
Three aneuploid epithelium-like cell lines, maintained in vitro for 7 to 12 years and under identical cultural conditions in chemically defined medium for 20 to 60 months, have been characterized by multiple parameters. The lines were: (a) NCTC 3075 (from human skin), (b) NCTC 3354 (from human bone), and (c) NCTC 3952 (from human uterine cervical carcinoma, the S3 clone of HeLa). The parameters were: (a) growth characteristics, (b) nutritional requirements, (c) chromosomal complement, (d) glycogen production, (e) phosphatase activity, (f) arginase activity, (g) lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) isozyme pattern, and (h) response of LDH isozyme pattern to alteration of the environment in vitro. Each line differs from the other two in at least three ways. Nutritional requirements differentiate the HeLa line from the other two. The skin line differs from the bone and HeLa by having the highest alkaline phosphatase activity and the highest glycogen content. The isozyme pattern of HeLa shows a prominent LDH 1 and a very faint LDH 5; when serum is added to the growth medium the pattern changes, LDH 1 almost disappearing and LDH 5 increasing in intensity. Removal of serum from the growth medium occasions a return to the original pattern. The isozyme patterns of skin and bone growing in serum-free medium resemble each other but are clearly different from HeLa. In comparison to HeLa, skin and bone show a distinct but less striking change of pattern when transferred to the serum-containing medium. Finally, the chromosomal complement of each of the three lines is characteristic with its own modal number (skin 72, bone 66, HeLa 70) and certain structurally distinctive chromosomes.