Role of vitamins in determining apoptosis and extent of suppression by bcl-2 during hybridoma cell culture

The identification of cell culture media components that may instigate apoptosis in cell lines used for the production of commercial antibodies and recombinant proteins, is crucial to aid the development of improved media for reduced cell death and to understand the role of nutrient components in cell survival and maintenance. Here we determine the impact of depriving all or individual B-group media vitamins either, D-CaPantothenate (DCaP), choline chloride (CC), riboflavin (Rb), i-inositol, nicotinamide (NAM), pyridoxal hydrochloride (PyrHCl), folic acid (FA), or thiamine hydrochloride (ThHCl) on hybridoma cell growth and viability using fluorescence microscopy techniques. Cultivation in media deprived of all these vitamins prevented cell proliferation from reaching maximum capacity while increasing cell death rate, predominantly via apoptosis. Deletion of either DCaP, CC, or Rb showed that these components were most likely responsible for the development of apoptosis. Exclusion of either i-inositol, NAM or PyrHCl failed to inhibit cell growth and viability, while marginal improvements in viability were noted by ThHCl deprivation and more so by FA exclusion. Over-expression of the anti-apoptotic gene bcl-2 suppressed cell death initiated by all or single vitamin (either DCaP, CC or Rb) deprivation. The involvement of bcl-2 activity, established a close association between small vitamin molecules particularly DCaP, CC or Rb and the biochemical activation of apoptosis.     

Overexpression of bcl-2, apoptosis suppressing gene: Prolonged viable culture period of hybridoma and enhanced antibody production

Human bcl-2 DNA was introduced into mouse hybridoma 2E3 cells and expressed at a high level by using BCMGSneo vector, which reportedly amplifies as multiple copies in the cells independently of their chromosomes. The high expression of bcl-2 in BCMGSneo-bcl-2 transfectants was confirmed by western blotting. In batch cultures, the overexpression of bcl-2 raised the maximum viable cell density by 45%, delayed the initiation of apoptosis by 2 days, and prolonged the viable culture period by 4 days. The delayed initiation of apoptosis was detected by emergence of the ladder pattern on DNA electrophoresis and increase of the dead cell number. The bcl-2 transfectants produced lgG(1) fourfold per batch culture in comparison with 2E3 cells transfected with BCMGSneo but not with bcl-2: a little less than twofold due to the improved survival of the cells and more than twofold due to the enhanced lgG(1) production rate per cell of the bcl-2 transfectants. The method to engineer hybridoma cells genetically with bcl-2 using BCMGSneo vector for increasing viability and productivity would be widely applied for improving antibody productivity of hybridoma cultures. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Induction of apoptosis in oxygen-deprived cultures of hybridoma cells

It is now well documented that apoptosis represents the prevalent mode of cell death in hybridoma cultures. Apoptotic or programmed cell death occurs spontaneously in late exponential phase of batch cultures. Until lately, no specific triggering factors had been identified. Recently, we observed that glutamine, cystine or glucose deprivation induced apoptosis in both hybridoma and myeloma cell lines whereas accumulation of toxic metabolites induced necrotic cell death in these cells. Other triggering factors such as oxygen deprivation might also be responsible for induction of apoptosis. In the present study, induction of cell death by exposure to anoxia was examined in batch culture of the SP2/0-derived hybridoma D5 clone. The mode of cell death was studied by morphological examination of acridine orange-ethidium bromide stained cells in a 1.5 L bioreactor culture grown under anoxic conditions for 75 hours. Under such conditions, viable cell density levelled off rapidly and remained constant for 25 hours. After 45 hours of anoxia, cell viability had decreased to 30% and the dead cell population was found to be 90% apoptotic. In terms of cellular metabolism, anoxia resulted in an increase in the utilization rates of glucose and arginine, and in a decrease in the utilization rate of glutamine. The lactate production rate and the yield of lactate on glucose increased significantly while the MAb production rate decreased. These results demonstrate that glycolysis becomes the main source of energy under anoxic conditions.Cells incubated for 10 hours or less under anoxic conditions were able to recuperate almost immediately and displayed normal growth rates when reincubated in oxic conditions whereas cells incubated for 22 hours or more displayed reduced growth rates. Nonetheless, even after 22 h or 29 h of anoxia, cells reincubated in oxic conditions showed no further progression into apoptosis. Therefore, upon removal of the triggering signal, induction of apoptosis ceased.Abbreviations VNA Viable non-apoptotic cells - VA Viable apoptotic cells - NVNA Nonviable non-apoptotic or necrotic cells - NVA Nonviable apoptotic cells - CF Chromatin-free cells (late nonviable apoptotic cells) - AO Acridine orange - EB Ethidium Bromide - MAb Monoclocnal antibody - D.O. Dissolved oxygen - qMAb Specific MAb production rate (mg. (10⁹ cells)^–1.day^–1) - Specific growth rate (h^–1) - X_v Viable cell number (10⁵ cells.mL^–1) - X_t Total cell number (10⁵ cells.mL^–1) - Y_lac/glc Yield coefficient of lactate on glucose (mM lactate produced/mM glucose consumed)     

Induction of apoptosis in nutrient-deprived cultures of hybridoma and myeloma cells

In the present study, cell death was investigated in cultures of NS/0 myelomas and SP2/0-derived D5 hybridomas through morphological examination of cells stained with acridine orange and ethidium bromide. The relative contribution of elevated levels of lactic acid and ammonia, as well as deprivation of glutamine, cystine, and glucose on the induction of necrosis or apoptosis, was investigated. In batch culture of D5 hybridoma cells, induction of apoptotic cell death correlated with the exhaustion of glutamine, while in the case of NS/0 myelomas, it coincided with exhaustion of cystine. To determine whether limiting nutrients were the actual triggering factors for apoptosis in batch culture, exponentially growing cells were resuspended in glutamine or cystine-free media. Within 30 to 40 h, viability decreased to 50% and the nonviable cell population displayed typical apoptotic morphology, with crescents of condensed chromatin around the periphery of the nucleus, or with the entire nucleus present as one or a group of featureless, brightly staining spherical beads. Similarly, D5 hybridomas and NS/0 myelomas cultivated in glucose-free medium died mainly from apoptosis. Cells were also cultivated in fresh medium supplemented with elevated concentrations of ammonia (3.0 mM) and/or lactate (35 mM, 50 mM). This resulted in decreased viabilities and necrotic death in both cell lines. From these results, we conclude that D5 hybridomas and NS/0 myelomas deprived of essential nutrients die by apoptosis, whereas incubation in the presence of elevated levels of metabolic byproducts such as ammonia and lactate will induce necrotic cell death in these cells. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Co-expression of bcl-2 and bag-1, apoptosis suppressing genes, prolonged viable culture period of hybridoma and enhanced antibody production

Human bcl-2 and bag-1 DNA were introduced into mouse hybridoma 2E3- O cells and expressed. The expression of bcl-2 in BCMGneo-bcl2 transfectants was confirmed by ELISA and that of bag-1 in pZeo-bag1 was confirmed by western blotting. In batch cultures, the over-expression of bcl-2 prolonged the culture period by 2 days and co-expression of bcl-2 and bag-1 prolonged the culture period by 3 days. The delayed increase in the dead cell number in culture of the bcl-2 and bag-1 cotransfectant indicated the additional antiapoptosis effect of bcl-2 and bag-1 cotransfection in comparison with the bcl-2 only transfection. The bcl-2 transfectants (2E3O-Bcl2) produced antibody twofold per batch culture in comparison with 2E3-O cells transfected with BCMGSneo (2E3O-Mock). Enhancement of this MoAb production was due to the improved survival of the cells and was not due to stimulation of antibody production rate per cell by Bcl-2 expression. And the bcl-2 and bag-1 co-transfectant (2E3O-Bcl2-BAG1) produced antibody approximately fourfold of 2E3O-Mock per batch culture. Enhancement of this MoAb production was due to the improved survival of the cells and was partly due to stimulation of MoAb production rate per cell in the non-growing phase by the cotransfection. The method to engineer hybridoma cells genetically with bcl-2 and bag-1 for increasing viability and productivity would be widely applied for improving antibody productivity of hybridoma cultures. This revised version was published online in August 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Starvation-induced programmed death of hybridoma cells: Prevention by amino acid mixtures

Association of the availability of nutrients with the phenomenon of programmed cell death-apoptosis-was investigated using hybridoma cells cultured in protein-free medium under conditions of starvation, i.e., in RPMl-1640 medium diluted to 50% with saline. Amino acid mixtures, such as MEM essential amino acids or MEM nonessential amino acids were found to prevent starvation death significantly when added to the diluted medium in 1 to 2 mM concentrations, the MEM vitamin mixture was ineffective, and glutamine displayed a moderate growth-supporting effect. The specific monoclonal antibody production rate in cultures supplemented with amino acid mixtures was strikingly low, whereas supplementation with glutamine alone or simultaneously with other amino acids resulted in a specific antibody production rate comparable with the rate observed in undiluted medium. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Reinforcing apoptosis-resistance of COS and myeloma cells by transfecting with bcl-2 gene

COS, myeloma and HeLa cells, which are commonly used for protein production by cell culture, were transfected with human bcl-2 gene encoded on the shuttle vector BCMGS. Expression of human bcl-2 improved survival of cells remarkably, mildly, or negligibly for COS, myeloma, and HeLa, respectively. Four clones were obtained from the human bcl-2 expressing cell population of COS cells. They expressed human bcl-2 almost at the same level. The viable cell numbers were 6, 2.5, 2.5, and 0.8 times as many for the clones #8, #5, #6, and #7, respectively, as for the control COS cells, when they were cultured at low (0.2%) serum concentration for 9 days. The bcl-2 overexpressing COS cells showed morphology different from that of the control COS cells in serum limited condition. When transfected with mouse lambda protein gene carried by an SV40-derived vector, clone #8 of the bcl-2 transfected COS cells continued the transient expression of lambda protein longer than the control COS cells. This revised version was published online in June 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Cell death in bioreactors: a role for apoptosis

The incidence of apoptotic and necrotic cell death was compared in CHO, SF9 insect cells and murine plasmacytoma (J558L) and hybridoma (TB/C3) cells during in vitro cultivation in batch cultures. Acridine orange staining and fluorescence microscopy enabled the visualization of a classic morphological feature of apoptotic cell, the presence of condensed and/or fragmented chromatin. DNA gel electrophoresis was employed to show an additional characteristic of the process, the endonuclease-mediated fragmentation of DNA into multiples of 180 base pairs. The levels of apoptosis at the end of batch cultures of plasmacytoma and hybridoma cell lines were found to be 60% and 90% of total dead cells, respectively. However, employing the above-mentioned techniques, the biochemical and morphological features of apoptosis were not found in CHO and SF9 insect cells. Some factors affecting the induction of apoptosis during the batch culture of the hybridoma and plasmacytoma cell lines were identified. The most effective inducer was found to be glutamine limitation, followed by (in order of importance) serum limitation, glucose limitation, and ammonia toxicity. Blockage of the cell cycle of the plasmacytoma and hybridoma cells using thymidine resulted in the induction of apoptosis. This has important implications for the development of cell culture processes that minimize cell division and thereby increase specific productivity. (c) 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Curcumin protects PC12 cells against 1-methyl-4-phenylpyridinium ion-induced apoptosis by bcl-2-mitochondria-ROS-iNOS pathway

The aim of present study is to explore the cytoprotection of curcumin against 1-methyl-4-phenylpridinium ions (MPP⁺)-induced apoptosis and the molecular mechanisms underlying in PC12 cells. Our findings indicated that MPP⁺ significantly reduced the cell viability and induced apoptosis of PC12 cells. Curcumin protected PC12 cells against MPP⁺-induced cytotoxicity and apoptosis not only by inducing overexpression of Bcl-2, but also reducing the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential (MMP), an increase in intracellular reactive oxygen species (ROS) and overexpression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). The selective iNOS inhibitor AG partly blocked MPP⁺-induced apoptosis of PC12 cells. The results of present study suggested that the cytoprotective effects of curcumin might be mediated, at least in part, by the Bcl-2-mitochondria-ROS-iNOS pathway. Because of its non-toxic property, curcumin could be further developed to treat the neurodegenerative diseases which are associated with oxidative stress, such as Parkinson’s disease (PD). J. Chen and X. Q. Tang are contributed equally to this work.     

Influence of bcl-2 on antibody productivity in high cell density perfusion cultures of hybridoma

Apoptosis is an active, genetically determined death mechanism which can be induced by a wide range of physiological factors and by mild stress. It is the predominant form of cell death during the production of antibodies from murine hybridoma cell lines. A number of studies have now demonstrated that the suppression of this death pathway, by means of over-expression of survival genes such as bcl-2, results in improved cellular robustness and antibody productivity during batch culture. In the present study, the influence of bcl-2 expression on hybridoma productivity in two high density perfusion bioreactor systems was investigated. In the first system, a fixed-bed reactor, the DNA content in the spent medium was 25% higher in the control (TB/C3-pEF) culture than that found in the bcl-2 transfected (TB/C3-bcl2) cultures at all perfusion rates. This is indicative of a higher level of cell death in the control cell line. The average antibody concentration for the TB/C3-pEF cell line was 14.9 mg L-1 at perfusion rates of 2.6 and 5.2 d-1. However, for the TB/C3-bcl2 cell line it was 33 mg L-1 at dilution rates of 2 and 4 d-1. A substantial increase in antibody concentration was also found in the Integra Tecnomouse hollow fibre reactor. The antibody titre in the TB/C3-bcl2 cassette was nearly 100% higher than that in the TB/C3-pEF cassette during the cultivation period which lasted 6 weeks. Clearly, these results demonstrate the positive impact of bcl-2 over-expression on production of antibody in hybridoma perfusion cultures. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

A combined cell-cycle and metabolic model for the growth of hybridoma cells in steady-state continuous culture

The Model presented in this work demonstrates the combination of cell-cycle model with a model describing the growth and conversion kinetics of hybridoma cells in a steady-state continuous culture. The cell-cycle model is based upon a population balance model as described by Cazzador et al. and assumes the existence of a cycling-and apoptotic-cell population, which together form the viable-cell population. In this part the fraction of apoptotic cells, the age distribution of the cycling and apoptotic-cell population, the mean volume and biomass content per cell of the cycling, apoptotic, and viable cells, and the specific growth and death rates of the cells are calculated. The metabolic part consists of a Monod-type growth equation, four elemental balances, an equation assuming a constant yield of ammonia on glutamine, an equation for product formation, and the relation of Glacken for energy production. Furthermore, a maintenance-energy model for the consumption of glucose and glutamine is introduced, which combines the approaches of Herbert and Pirt into one model in a way similar to Beeftink et al. For energy consumption a Pirt model is assumed. The model is capable of predicting trends in steady-state vaues of a large number of variables of interest like specific growth rate, specific death rate, viability, cell numbers, mean viable-cell volume, and concentrations and conversion rates of product, glucose, glutamine, lactate, and ammonia. Also the concentrations and conversion rates of oxygen and carbon dioxide are qualitatively predicted. The values of the model predictions are generally close to experimental data obtained from literature. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Induction of apoptosis and change of bcl—2 expression in macrophage Ana—1 cells by all—trans retinoic acid

Macrophage cells play an important role in the initiation and regulation of the immune response.All-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and its natural and synthetic analogs (retinoids)affect a large number of biological processes.Recently,retinoids have been shown promise in the therapy and prevention of various cancers.However,many interesting questions related to the activities of retinoids remain to be answered:(I) Molecular mechanisms by which retinoids exert their effects;（Ⅱ)why the clinical uses of retinoids give undesirable side effects of varying severity with a higher frequency of blood system symptoms;(Ⅲ)little is known for its impacts on macrophage cells etc.We set up this experiment,therefore,to examine the apoptosis of ATRA on macrophage Ana-1 cell line.Apoptosis of the cells was quantitated,after staining cells with propidium iodide(PI),by both accounting nuclear condensation and flow cytometry.When the cells were treated with ATRA at or higher than 1μM for more than 24h,significant amount of the apoptotic cells was observed.Induction of apoptosis of Ana-1 cells by ATRA was in time-and dose-dependent manners,exhibiting the similar pattern as the apoptosis induced by actinomycin D (ACTD).ATRA treatment of Ana-1 cells also caused the changes of the mRNA levels of apoptosis-associated gene bcl-2,as detected by Northern blot analysis.The temporal changes of bcl-2 expression by ATRA was also parallel to that by ACTD.In conclusion,ATRA can induce apoptosis in macrophage cells,which may be helpful in understanding of immunological functions retinoids.     

Neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells as a result of prevention of cell death by bcl-2

Rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells die when cultured in serum-free medium. Neurotrophic factors can rescue PC12 cells from cell death, and induce neuronal differentiation. To further investigation the relationship among cell death, survival, and differentiation, the bcl-2 cDNA, which is known to prevent apoptosis in various types of cells, was transfected into PC12 cells. Six monoclonal bcl-2-transfected cell lines were isolated and confirmed to express mRNA and protein product of bcl-2. The wild-type and bcl-2-transfected PC12 cells were kept to adhere to collagen-coated dishes at the inintiation of serum-free experiments to avoid cellular damage due to detachment of the cells by triturtion. Even under the conditions, the control PC12 cells mostly died within 24 h, when cultured in serum-free medium whereas those expressing Bcl-2 survived even for 7 days in serum-free medium. Moreover, outgrowth of long processes in thebcl-2-transfected cells was only observed under the condition to keep the cells attached to the dishes in serum-free medium without any additive neurotrophic or growth factors. Neurofilament medium protein, which is a neuron-specific cytoskeletal component, was also expressed in the differentited cells, suggesting that the long processes in bcl-2-transfected PC12 cells are neurites. However, neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells expressing Bcl-2 was not observed when cultured in serum-containing medium. Accordingly, survival of PC12 cells expressing Bcl-2 under the condition which cells usually die may be accompanied with neuronal differentiation. 1994 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Phosphoinositol 3 kinase inhibitor, LY294002 increases bcl-2 protein and inhibits okadaic acid-induced apoptosis in Bcl-2 expressing renal epithelial cells

Protein phosphorylation plays an indispensable role in cellular regulation of mitosis, metabolism, differentiation, and death. We previously reported that the protein phosphatase inhibitor okadaic acid (OKA) induces apoptosis in renal epithelial cells in culture. In the present study, we examined the role of phosphotidylinositol 3 (PI3) kinase signaling in okadaic acid-induced apoptosis by pre-treating normal rat kidney renal epithelial cells expressing human bcl-2 with the PI3 kinase inhibitors, LY294002 and wortmannin, followed by apoptosis-inducing concentrations of okadaic acid. Given the reported cell survival activity of PI3 kinase signaling mostly attributed to Akt kinase activation, we hypothesized that inhibition of PI3 kinase would enhance okadaic-induced apoptosis. Surprisingly, our data show that pretreatment with LY294002, but not wortmannin, attenuated okadaic acid-induced apoptosis. In contrast, to LY294002, wortmannin enhanced apoptosis. Interestingly, we also found that LY294002 treatment increased bcl-2 protein levels in normal rat kidney epithelial cells expressing bcl-2 (NRK-bcl-2). In untreated cells, bcl-2 appeared to be mainly perinuclear, coincident with the nuclear membrane, or in the cytosol. In OKA treated cells that were pre-treated with Ly294002, bcl-2 was highly co-localized with mitochondria, but in cells treated with okadaic acid alone, bcl-2 was associated with fragmented chromatin. In this model, it appears that LY294002 may exert anti-apoptotic effects by a previously unreported treatment related increase in bcl-2. Although it is widely accepted that bcl-2 protein can inhibit apoptosis, we propose that the subcellular location of bcl-2 is an important determinant in whether bcl-2 effectively inhibits apoptosis.     

Retroviral overexpression of bcl-2 in the embryonic chick lens influences denucleation in differentiating lens fiber cells

During the course of their differentiation, embryonic lens fibers undergo loss of their cytoplasmic organelles and nuclei. The denucleation process bears similarities to the nuclear breakdown that occurs during apoptosis. This has given rise to the hypothesis that this denucleation is analogous to apoptosis, but without the plasma membrane changes characteristic of apoptotic cell death. Previous work has shown that several members of the apoptotic cascade are active during denucleation. Here, we have overexpressed the anti-apoptotic molecule bcl-2 in developing lenses of the 8-day-old chick embryo in ovo, using the replication-competent retrovirus RCAS. We find that lenses overexpressing bcl-2 show varying degrees of distortion in comparison with untreated and negative insert controls, including a more spherical shape and disorganized fiber cells. All overexpressing lenses showed significantly higher numbers of smaller nuclei in the lens core, where denucleation begins. There was no change in cell size or pattern of proliferation. These in vivo results were confirmed in vitro using lens epithelial cell cultures, which differentiate into lentoids. The lentoids in treated cultures showed the same effect on nuclear number and size. We further found that in lenses overexpressing bcl-2 there was a reduction in the activation of caspase-9 and the cleavage of the caspase substrate DFF45, and, in the lens core, a failure of the nuclear chromatin to condense. These results provide strong support for the view that embryonic lens fiber cell denucleation is analogous to the nuclear degradation that occurs during apoptosis, and that similar control pathways are involved in both these phenomena.     

bcl-2高表达细胞株的构建

利用基因转染技术,将人的bcl-2基因cDNA克隆于逆转录病毒载体pLXSN,通过PA317细胞包装成病毒后感染HeLa细胞。经PCR及蛋白质印迹证明转染成功,得到bcl-2稳定高表达株Hbc17。用顺铂诱导凋亡,Hbc17比对照细胞株H1具有明显的抗凋亡能力。为进一步研究顺铂诱导肿瘤细胞凋亡的机理奠定基础。     

Role of Ca2+, Mg2+ and K+ ions in determining apoptosis and extent of suppression afforded by bcl-2 during hybridoma cell culture

We have addressed the possibility that Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ and K⁺ ions play a central role in governing the morphological and biochemical changes attributed to apoptotic cell death. By removing Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺ or K⁺ ions from the cell culture medium we were able to assess the contribution of each ion to hybridoma cell growth and viability. The differences were explained in terms of a possible reduction in their respective intracellular levels. From several lines of evidence, the deprivation of K⁺ ions was the most detrimental to cellular growth and viability and induced significant levels of early apoptotic cells. Another effect of this deprivation was to weaken the plasma membranes without causing membrane breakdown; exposure to high agitation rates confirmed fragility of the cell membranes. Removal of Mg²⁺ caused a reduction in the levels of early apoptotic cells and predisposed cells to high levels of primary necrotic death. The lower levels of apoptotic cells failed to demonstrate the classic nuclear morphology associated with apoptosis, while retaining other apoptotic features. These results highlighted the importance of utilizing several assays for the determination of apoptosis. The absence of Ca²⁺ appeared to be the mildest insult, but its deprivation did accelerate a significant decline in culture by increasing apoptotic death. Hybridoma cells overexpressing the apoptotic suppresser gene bcl-2 were protected from the predominantly necrosis inducing effects of Mg²⁺ ion deprivation and apoptosis inducing effects of Ca²⁺ ion deprivation. However, apoptosis was not as effectively suppressed in bcl-2 cells responding to incubation in K⁺ free medium. The inclusion of bcl-2 activity in the mechanisms of Ca²⁺ Mg²⁺ or K⁺ deprivation induced cell death emphasizes a close relationship between ionic dissipation and the apoptotic process.     

Correlation between steady-state cell concentration and cell death of hybridoma cultures in chemostat

In the present study, the steady-state cell density (X) of chemostat cultures of murine hybridoma was varied by the concentration of glucose and glutamine in culture medium and the dissolved oxygen partial pressure. Except at low glutamine and low oxygen levels, the specific death rate (k(d)) of the cultures was found to decrease with increasing dilution rate (D). However, the plot of k(d) vs. X/D yielded linear relation, which suggests that cell death was due to a non-growth-linked inhibitory product of the cells. The k(d) value measured at low glutamine and low oxygen levels remained practically unchanged over a wide range of D between 0.020 and 0.029 h(-1). The k(d) for low oxygen cultures was always lower than the values obtained in low glucose and low glutamine cultures. A low-molecular-weight component of possibly less than 3000 MW was detected to be cell-death-inducing in the supernatant of exponentially growing cultures. It was neither lactate nor ammonium. The autoinhibitor was not cell-line specific. (c) 1995 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.     

Death mechanisms of animal cells in conditions of intensive agitation

The question is addressed as to whether cells which are subject to high-energy dissipation rates in agitated bioreactors show an apoptotic response. Murine hybridoma cells in batch culture were agitated in bench-scale (1-L) bioreactors without gas sparging. At an energy dissipation rate of 1.5 W m(-3) there was no apparent damage. At 320 W m(-3) cell viability declined, and increasing proportions of the dead cells displayed the morphological features of apoptosis, but necrosis also remained as a significant mechanism of death. When cells were subjected to the intensive energy dissipation rate of 1870 W m(-3) in a bioreactor without gas headspace, the cell number dropped by 50% within 2 h and a subpopulation of smaller-sized cells emerged. This excluded trypan blue but showed some apoptotic characteristics such as reduced and condensed DNA content and low F-actin content. The incidence of apoptotic activity was further demonstrated by the appearance of numerous apoptotic bodies. Analysis of the cell cycles of both small and normal size populations indicated that greater proportions of S and G2 cells had become apoptotic and there was evidence of preferential survival of G1 cells. It is suggested that two mechanisms of cell death are apparent in hydrodynamically stressful situations, but their relative expression depends on the energy dissipation rate.     

BCL-2, a novel regulator of apoptosis

The bcl-2 gene has a unique function among mammalian oncogenes as a negative regulator of apoptosis. Its expression pattern in embryonic and adult tissues is consistent with a role in maintaining in vivo survival of specific cell types. The biochemical function of bcl-2 is unknown, but its localization to mitochondrial and microsomal membranes suggests several possibilities, bcl-2 is protective against oxidative stress in mammalian cells and can be replaced by antioxidants in a factor-deprivation model of apoptosis. These results are consistent with a model of apoptotic death involving oxidative stress in a central pathway. The recent discovery of several bcl-2-related genes, some of which also inhibit apoptosis and others that unexpectedly promote apoptosis, has shed new light on several aspects of bcl-2 action. © 1996 Wiley-Liss, Inc.