Characterization of human cells: Variation in growth rate, volume, morphology and growth efficiency in media supplemented with human serum or bovine fetal serum

Abstract

Three cell strains in process of cultural establishment were characterized during serial passage by large inocula. The cell lines, shown poliovirus-susceptible, were received as derived from human fetal small intestine and collagenase-treated or plasma-clot-explanted human adult lung carcinoma, after 6, 27 and 27 passages respectively. Cultures were passed in medium supplemented with human adult serum or bovine fetal serum, and at each serial passage were grown also in medium supplemented with both sera. After four serial passages, effects of different basal medium and serum on growth of the separated sublines was tested. Sublines were compared by examination of colony morphology, cell yield, cell-volume distribution, single-colony growth and cell chromosome number. Influence of cultural conditions was reflected quantitatively rather than qualitatively by effects on cell properties, except that growth of one strain was not enhanced by bovine fetal serum in medium. Growth of sublines in single-serum medium did not enhance capacity for growth in that medium selectively. Similar response was shown by two sublines selected in human-serum medium by colony-to-colony passage. These studies showed that cellular properties as exhibited by these cultures could be affected variously by cultural conditions, and that multiple criteria were needed for differential characterization.