TOPOGRAPHY OF NONNEOPLASTIC AND NEOPLASTIC-CELLS OF COMMON ORIGIN

  • 1 January 1977
    • journal article
    • research article
    • Vol. 37  (3) , 831-842
Abstract
The possibility that neoplastic transformation may characteristically alter cell surface morphology prompted a comparison by scanning electron microscopy of nonneoplastic and tumorigenic cell lines from a single clone of mouse embryo cells. Among those studied by scanning electron microscopy, 6 lines of this clone were nonneoplastic, and 9 others underwent neoplastic transformation in culture, as evidenced by tumor production in vivo. Combined cinephotomicrography and scanning electron microscopy allowed the determination of postmitotic time and topography of individual cells without perturbing the cells or detectably altering their surface morphology. No pattern of morphological change as a function of postmitotic time was evident in nonneoplastic neoplastic cell populations. These cell populations could be compared under their usual conditions of attached asynchronous growth despite differences in proliferation rates. Cells of the neoplastic lines were characteristically less spread, and some lines displayed greater morphological variability than was evident among cells of nonneoplastic lines. Most cells in all 9 neoplastic lines and all 6 nonneoplastic lines were smooth surfaced. The exaggerated incidence of microvilli, ruffles or blebs reported for established tumor derived lines and most morphologically transformed lines did not prove a reliable criterion of neoplastic state for these cell lines of common origin grown under the same culture conditions.

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