Biochemical Changes in Cultured Cells

Abstract

THE in vitro culture of blood or bone marrow cells is frequently employed in hæmatological studies. Since it is uncertain how far in vitro conditions approximate to in vivo ones, it is important to collect as much evidence as possible bearing on the life of cultured cells. It is not enough that they should merely exist in a state of torpor; but there should be some indication of the occurrence of proliferative activity or of cell maturation and differentiation. Although ample morphological evidence of both these processes in bone marrow cells in fluid media has been put forward^1,2, it is desirable to demonstrate that such cultures are also ‘biochemically alive’. Measurements of cellular nucleic acids may reveal maturation and differentiation of cells of the hæmopoietic system, for it has already been shown that the ribonucleic acid content of the cytoplasm of primitive marrow cells is much greater than that of the mature differentiated forms^3,4. We have studied the quantitative changes taking place in nucleic acids during the culture of bone marrow cells.