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Proliferation‐associated oxygen consumption and morphology of tumor cells in monolayer and spheroid culture
Author(s) -
BredelGeissler A.,
Karbach U.,
Walenta S.,
Vollrath L.,
MuellerKlieser W.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
journal of cellular physiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.529
H-Index - 174
eISSN - 1097-4652
pISSN - 0021-9541
DOI - 10.1002/jcp.1041530108
Subject(s) - spheroid , cytoplasm , monolayer , oxygen , biophysics , cell growth , cell , mitochondrion , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , morphology (biology) , cell culture , chemistry , biochemistry , genetics , organic chemistry
The oxygen consumption rate, proliferative activity, and morphology of EMT6/Ro mouse mammary sarcoma cells in monolayer and multicellular spheroid culture have been investigated in a comparative study. During the transition of monolayer cells from the exponential into the plateau growth phase, there is a distinct decrease in the cellular volume that is associated with a corresponding decrease in the proliferative and respiratory activity of the cells. The decline in cell volume is mainly due to a decrease in the content of cytoplasm, whereas the size of the nucleus is only slightly reduced. A concomitant decrease in the number of mitochondria per cell obviously accounts for the reduction in cellular oxygen uptake. Despite a continuous decrease of cell proliferation from the surface to interior regions of EMT6 spheroids reflected by a gradient in tritiated thymidine labeling, volume‐related oxygen consumption is rather uniform in viable regions of these aggregates. The finding can be explained by the results of the morphometric evaluation showing a uniform volume density of mitochondria, i.e., of oxygenconsuming sites within these spheroids. © 1992 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.