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Cellular thiols in rat liver cell lines possessing different growth characteristics
Author(s) -
Principe Paola,
Riley Patrick A.,
Slater Trevor F.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
cell biochemistry and function
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.933
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1099-0844
pISSN - 0263-6484
DOI - 10.1002/cbf.290090210
Subject(s) - glutathione , thiol , buthionine sulfoximine , chemistry , cell culture , cell growth , cell , biochemistry , liver cell , microbiology and biotechnology , medicine , biology , enzyme , genetics
Thiol levels were measured in three cell lines derived from rat hepatocytes with different growth rates and degrees of tumorigenicity: IAR20 having normal epithelial morphology and no tumour forming ability: IAR6.1 being a chemically‐transformed malignant cell line; and IAR6.1RT7 derived from an epithelial tumour obtained after injection of IAR6.1 cells into a syngeneic animal. The mean levels of GSH, GSSG, low molecular weight thiols (LMWT), macromolecular thiols (MT) and total reactive protein sulphur (TRPS), expressed as nmoles‐SH mg −1 protein, were found to be 25·5, 7·5, 50·1, 114·5 and 143·6 respectively for IAR20; 37·6, 3·9, 65·4, 126·8 and 148·4 for IAR6.1; 17·2, 4·4, 52·3, 141·0 and 168·2 for IAR6.1RT7. Cultures were treated with D, L‐buthionine‐S, R‐sulphoximine (BSO) to cause greater than 70 per cent depletion of GSH and the measurements of cellular thiols repeated. Although treatment with BSO caused a substantive decrease in the LMWT fraction, there were no major changes in macromolecular thiols or in total reactive protein sulphur. The respective mean values for LMWT, MT and TRPS (expressed as nmoles‐SH mg −1 protein) were 19·4, 109·8, 136·3 for IAR20; 17·2, 119·3, 143·6 for IAR6.1; 21·6, 150·7 and 163·5 for IAR6.1RT7. It is concluded that significant differences in thiol levels exist between the three rat liver cell lines studied. However, severe acute depletion of GSH is not reflected by changes in the levels of macromolecular thiols which suggests that there is only a slow equilibrium between these two major thiol pools.